If you've ever used iTunes and its software, then it's likely that you've dealt with iTunes' musical algorithm. Whether it's the recommendation for an album to buy after listening to Foo Fighter's "Everlong" or creating a Genius playlist based on U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday," Apple is trying to create the best musical experience for users. And the startup it acquired recently might help it perform that task even better.
Apple recently bought Semetric, the London-based startup that made the music analytics service Musicmetric, Musically reported. The music business news site discovered this after noting how the startup had submitted a series of documents with the Companies House that changed its address to the same office as Apple Europe Ltd. Semetric also filed details about appointing a new director, Gene Daniel Levoff of 1 Infinite Loop, who also happens to be the vice president of corporate law at Apple and a director of Apple Operations International.
Semetric confirmed this when it told the Financial Times that Apple had paid 50 million to acquire it.
Apple staff responded with the generic statement, "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plan."
The Musicmetric service was started in 2008 by Semetric as a way for musicians and producers to track social and sales analytics. The service eventually expanded its reach to other media. It also used its tools to track and determine the level of music piracy online.
Musically suspects that this service could be incorporated into Apple's recent purchase of the Beats Music streaming service. Analysts suspect that Apple is looking to incorporate Beats Music into the iOS as a built-in app, as well as lower the cost of streaming subscriptions.
Another interesting question is how this purchase will affect Musicmetric's partnership with Spotify, considering that Semetric will be working with a Spotify competitor, Beats Music.
