Apple has the Midas Touch when it comes to marketing. Though its status as a tech innovator has waned in the last several years, the company is still widely respected for its skill in branding.
Fans and pundits, however, often overlook the trendy brand’s accomplishments in the gritty data and analytics space. This public opinion could indeed change now that Apple has acquired London-based analytics company Semetric, according to The Wall Street Journal.
This news comes nine months after Apple purchased audio products brand Beats Electronics, along with its associated streaming service, for a whopping $3 billion. The purchase signaled the next phase in Apple’s digital music strategy, predicated on the increased viability of online streaming. These streaming services, however, seem to be constantly defending their legality and value from both musicians and the record companies that back them—despite the role services such as Spotify are playing in declining iTunes music sales.
With a retooled Beats Music service expected later this year, the Semetric purchase—and access to all of its behavioral and trend data—could be the boost Apple needs to remain a power player in the music industry. Enterprise-level access to data on how listeners consume music, through both legal and illegal channels, could even catalyze the ascension of Big Data into consumer-centric markets. Data on this scale will likely change the way music is monetized, and could even shift value from the art and artists to the numbers.
Whatever the impact, Apple sure has social media talking.
#data analytics is everywhere now. Apple just acquired media analytics startup Semetric.
— Tijmen Weddepohl (@tijmenweddepohl) January 21, 2015
Apple recently purchased #Semetric, an analytics company that tracks music sales, illegal downloads and social-networking mentions.
— A. Taylor Lynn (@coffeeandmedia) January 21, 2015
#Semetric´s acquisition by #Apple is a very clear sign of its strategic direction towards #bigdata use in #consumerism. Big things coming
— Carlos Artal de Lara (@cartal) January 21, 2015
Apple, Spotify etc in MusicTech: spend billions on data/metric plays, but not music itself. In case you were wondering where the passion is
— Michael St James (@michaelstjames) January 21, 2015
Apple bought a big data music startup that tracks illegal downloads of music
That’s ironic, and not surprising
— Leigh Drogen (@LDrogen) January 21, 2015
Pay attention. While you’re confused, Apple’s building the worlds largest label with data – @Musicmetric analytics bought by Apple.
— Aaron Peck (@apcommunicate) January 21, 2015
