Apple has acquired digital music analytics startup Asaii

Since Apple Music launched in 2015, one of its biggest areas of focus has been finding new artists to promote. Whether it’s rolling out a Top Charts dashboard or highlighting a new artist every week, Apple has made it clear it wants music discovery to be easier for everyone.

Now, to help this effort, Apple has reportedly acquired digital music analytics company Asaii for less than $100 million, according to an Axios report. The story explains how Asaii cofounders Sony Theakanath and Austin Chen are now listed as Apple employees on their LinkedIn profiles after abruptly announcing last month that they would be shutting down their company Oct. 14. 

Prior to its reported acquisition, Asaii was a company best known for building an artist scouting and discovery tool. Using AI and machine learning, Asaii scraped the web to find new musical acts and hot tracks from unsigned artists — namely on platforms like SoundCloud and YouTube. Apple apparently has interest in this technology, presumably because it could bolster the company’s music-streaming service Apple Music.

The acquisition makes sense from a purely practical standpoint. Apple dominated the digital music landscape with its launch of iTunes in 2003. But Apple’s dominance changed suddenly as more people began streaming music online. When Spotify launched in the U.S. in 2011, Apple didn’t have a viable streaming competitor. Since then, Apple has been focused on playing catch-up while it tries to reassert itself as the most popular digital music platform.

It also makes sense because services such as Apple Music are becoming a more vital part of Apple’s business, especially as iPhone sales have plateaued. Apple Music is certainly a bright spot for the company, but it still makes up only a small fraction of total annual revenue.

That hasn’t stopped it from growing rapidly. Although competitors such as Spotify and Pandora had a few years head start, Apple Music is already making up lost ground. In July, Digital Music News reported that Apple Music surpassed Spotify in total number of U.S. subscribers. 

The acquisition of Asaii by Apple could lead to any number of things, but our best guest is Apple will probably use it to sign hot new artists and make better obscure listening recommendations to customers.

Regardless, it’s safe to assume that it will be used to differentiate Apple Music even more against the increasingly competitive music streaming services. Let the music-streaming wars continue!