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takyon writes:

Apple is buying music recognition service Shazam. The Shazam app basically uses your microphone to listen to a snippet of whatever music is being played in your vicinity, identify the song, and store it along with a timestamp. But the company was also working on visual recognition technology similar to Google Lens:

Apple is finalizing a deal to acquire Shazam, the app that lets you identify songs, movies, and TV shows from an audio clip, according to TechCrunch. The deal is reportedly for $400 million, according to Recode, which also confirmed the news.

For Apple, the obvious benefit of acquiring Shazam is the company's music and sound recognition technologies. It will also save some money on the commissions Apple pays Shazam for sending users to its iTunes Store to buy content, which made up the majority of Shazam's revenue in 2016, and drove 10 percent of all digital download sales, according to The Wall Street Journal.

A side benefit is if Apple decides to shut down the app, it will hurt competing streaming services like Spotify and Google Play Music, where Shazam sends over 1 million clicks a day, the WSJ reported. Shazam also has a deal with Snapchat. It's unclear how the acquisition will affect any of these agreements.

Related: The Shazam Effect

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