Apple is spreading its wings even further, having recently acquired the media data startup company responsible for the music analytics platform, Musicmetric. The startup goes by the name of Semetric.
Interested parties were first alerted to the acquisition when Semetric, which is London-based, updated its registered company address to the address of law firm Baker & McKenzie, which is, of course where Apple Europe Ltd is registered.
The news is further substantiated by the fact that Semetric appointed Gene Daniel Levoff as one of its new directors late last year (October), who is vice president of corporate law at Apple.
Those who have not yet heard of Semetric, might be more familiar with the company’s product Musicmetric, which is a platform designed to glean information and data about how popular musicians are online.
Musicmetric works by analysing data from a variety of online sources, such as Facebook, Twitter and Torrent sites such as BitTorrent. Users of the software can adjust filters in order to see whatever is most relevant for them, such as the style of music or even the location of a specific music event.
Once filters have been set, users can then analyse sentiment and see what people are saying about specific artists and songs. This invaluable data can then feed into the targeting and marketing strategies of music companies.
Why would Apple buy Semetric?
It is no secret that big data is becoming ever more important, as companies recognise the importance in listening to their customers and tracking their behaviour in order to ensure marketing and retargeting efforts are not wasted.
Apple is not the only company to have a made a move to scale up on the collection of big data recently. Indeed, Spotify acquired The Echo Nest last year, in order to get a better understanding of the listening habits of its users and to improve music discovery.
With iTunes sales having fallen recently and showing no clear sign of picking up, it should not be too much of a surprise to learn that Apple is stepping up its efforts in the big data arena. To be successful, you must understand your users.
With their purchase of Beats Electronics, Apple clearly shows that it recognises music-streaming is the way forward and now, with its acquisition of Semetric, Apple shows it is looking to make big data a vital part of its ongoing business strategy.
Apple must now invest in making sure they understand what their users are listening to, as well as when, where and what the sentiment of their users is as they’re listening. This will ensure Apple to give its users what they want and vastly improve customer satisfaction.
It will also enable Apple to provide a valuable service to music companies and artists, enabling the company to provide the music industry with invaluable up-to-date data about what music fans are feeling and saying about the music they listen to.
Musicmetrics is a vital piece of the puzzle as to why Apple would buy the seemingly unheard of startup, Semetric, however, it is also worth highlighting that Semetric has a lot more to its bow than just tracking music data, something that Apple is no doubt extremely aware of.
The Semetric platform would appeal to Apple because it offers tracking on a broad range of data points, including books, movies and TV. It’s important to remember that Apple is not just a music provider but also sells ebooks, as well as films and TV shows so can therefore benefit from the wider range of data services provided by Semetric and will no doubt pass these benefits on to the content providers it partners with.