Music-recognition technology company Shazam has announced that it has reacquired Audio Recognition technology and related patents from Broadcast Music Inc (BMI). 

Shazam originally sold B2B rights-management company BMI the intellectual property rights to its Audio Recognition technology in 2005, to help fund its development. By reacquiring the Intellectual Property, Shazam has the unrestricted rights to integrate the technology more fully into its services, expanding its product set and adding to its IP portfolio, says Shazam.

“Shazam has seen fantastic growth in the last year, adding more than 1.5m new people every week, with the total number of Shazamers around the globe now exceeding 165m,” says Shazam CEO, Andrew Fisher. “This is the optimal time to repurchase the technology and patents so that we can continue to add to and protect our growing portfolio which will, in turn, allow Shazam to broaden our range of products, further developing Shazam for TV and other innovative offerings.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Shazam will assume ownership of the IP while BMI will retain its full capability in the business-to-business space to use the technology to detect and identify performances of music, and BMI will become a shareholder in Shazam. BMI will continue to include the technology as part of its BMI Recognition Services.

“We are thrilled to enter into a new chapter in our long-term relationship with Shazam,” says BMI president and CEO Del Bryant. “This agreement will allow Shazam to build on its tremendous success in creating consumer-facing services while at the same time allowing BMI to continue to deliver commercial recognition services for our customers through a perpetual, worldwide license, and to benefit from an ongoing technology collaboration with Shazam.”