TechCrunch is reporting:
As Spotify continues to inch towards a public listing, Apple is making a move of its own to step up its game in music services. Sources tell us that the company is close to acquiring Shazam, the popular app that lets people identify any song, TV show, film or advert in seconds, by listening to an audio clip or (in the case of, say, an ad) a visual fragment, and then takes you to content relevant to that search.
The article also says:
It’s not clear what will carry on post acquisition, and which of these might be something that Apple would integrate into its own business (and how), but it’s notable that much of what Shazam does is very synergistic with what Apple is working on already: AR, and more features to attract more users to the Apple Music platform.
My guess is that Shazam has powerful data that Apple currently may not be able to access. While Shazam powers Siri’s music recognition, there may be ways that Apple could leverage this service to get more data that will help them spot trends, and better understand the way people listen to music. Or it could simply be that Apple wants to stop paying Shazam for their service, and since they have boatloads of cash, this allows them to buy it out and control it entirely. And stop sending people to Spotify or other services.