Apple to acquire music data analytics company

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Apple has acquired the American company Asaii, says one of the Asaii investors. The company offers music data analytics services, including a machine learning-based Discover service to identify emerging artists.

The founder of start-up accelerator The House, one of Asaii’s investors, tells MusicAlly that Apple has acquired the company. In addition, Axios notes that the LinkedIn profiles of Asaii employees state that they are now employed by Apple. In the past month, Asaii also announced that it would stop providing services on October 14, last Sunday. Apple is rumored to have paid less than $100 million for the company.

Asaii mentions on its website that it provides a so-called Discover service, which appears to be aimed at record labels. This makes it possible, among other things, to obtain information about an artist and to receive suggestions based on machine learning about artists who ‘will appear in the charts within ten weeks’. In addition, there is an API that can be used by companies for generating recommendations, algorithmic playlists and fighting fraud.

It seems obvious that Apple is making the purchase to supplement its Music service. The company has previously made a music-related acquisition in the form of Shazam. It completed that acquisition in September, removing the ads from the app. Apple Music competitor Spotify recently announced that it would also allow artists who are not affiliated with a label to its service. They then immediately receive the income they generate via the platform. Spotify also regularly takes over companies, such as the French machine learning company Niland in 2017.

Update, 10/16: TechCrunch doubts whether Asaii was actually acquired, Apple has not been willing to confirm this to the site in the usual way. It would therefore look more like the three founders have joined Apple.

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