Tech giant Apple acquires Imperial spin-out Semetric as the firm sets sights on Spotify.
Apple has acquired Imperial College London Semetric, according to documents filed with the UK Companies House.
Details of the tech giant’s deal are scarce, with neither financials from the deal nor any stated intent behind the deal coming from the smartphone developer.
Apple’s main motivation would appear to be securing Semtric’s music analytics platform Musicmetric. The big data platform tracks the popularity of musicians online, looking at a number of different metrics from social media engagement to illegal downloads of an artist’s music. Following the acquisition of Beats Electronics for $3bn last year and ailing sales on Apple’s current music retail platform iTunes, it seems that Apple is gathering the pieces to move from downloads to online streaming of music – with Semetric allowing Apple to keep its finger on the pulse of which musicians have the most drawing power.
The music streaming market is becoming increasingly more crowded. Currently, music platform Spotify has the lead, but is likely to see greater competition from Google’s YouTube subscription service and Apple’s own service once it is launched.