It looks like Apple will add analytics tools to Beats, the music streaming service it purchased for $3 billion last May.
Apple recently acquired Semetric, the British startup behind an analytics service called Musicmetric, according to The Guardian , which cites public documents showing that Semetric has changed its registered address to the address of Apple’s legal partner in the UK. Last October, The Guardian points out, Semetric also appointed a senior Apple attorney to its board of directors.
Neither Apple nor Semetric has publicly commented on the report. But it only stands to reason that Apple would beef up Beats with analytics tools, which would allow music labels, artists, and other Apple partners to track how the music service is being used. Launched in 2008, the Semetric analytics service, Musicmetric, currently tracks music data across all sorts of other online services, including Apple’s iTunes, Spotify, and social networks.
The apparent move is one more sign that Apple is serious about subscription music streaming, as opposed to iTunes-style a la carte downloads. With the rise of Spotify, Pandora, Radio, and others tools, subscription streaming services have become a standard means of consuming music online, and after Steve Jobs avoided this market for years, it appears the company has had a change of heart.
According to reports, Apple is gearing up to relaunch the Beats service later this year, and as the The Guardian points out, Musicmetric would suit the service. Labels and artists could use the analytics tool to track streams across Beats and perhaps track how those streams are driving sales and chatter on iTunes and across social media.
No comments:
Post a Comment