Apple is really focusing in on the music industry, snapping up another music-focused startup less than a year after buying Beats Electronics. This time it’s London-based Semetric, which focuses on music analytics and measures piracy.
Apple buys Musicmetric
Music Ally.com was the first to report the quiet acquisition of the company, which was previously known as Musicmetric before changing its name to Semetric. The website cited documents filed with the U.K.’s Companies House earlier this month. On Jan. 12, Semetric changed its registered address to that of Apple Europe Limited.
The company also added a new board member—Gene Daniel Levoff, whose address is in Apple’s hometown of Cupertino, Calif. and who is also an Apple Operations International director. The filing indicated that he was appointed to Semetric’s board in October.
Although the price Apple paid for Semetric has not been officially disclosed, the Financial Times reports that it could have been about $50 million, citing an unnamed sources familiar with the acquisition.
What could Apple want with Semetric?
Music Ally’s Stuart Dredge reports that Apple probably wanted Semetric for its music analytics tool Musicmetric. The company began in 2008 with its analytics tool and has since expanded into related areas. Semetric now offers analytics for TV shows, games, films and books and has researched just how widespread music piracy is on the web.
According to Dredge, Apple could use the Musicmetric dashboard when it launches Beats Music internationally in the next few months. It’s not clear though whether the company will continue offering the Musicmetric Pro service, however.
He also points out that there will likely be some shifting in the music industry as a result of the acquisition. For example, Spotify partners with Musicmetric to provide analytics information to music labels. However, it seems unlikely that the streaming radio provider would continue that partnership because it would open up large amounts of its data to Apple.
Dredge also suggests that Musicmetric’s main rival, Next Big Sound, could become an attractive acquisition target for Apple’s competitors.
