Spotify has beefed up its bid to become No.1 in terms of music audience intelligence, buying Seed Scientific.
The purchase price was not disclosed.
Founded in 2013, Seed Scientific provides algorithms and data-driven solutions for clients across the commercial, public, and social sectors, including Audi, Unilever, and the United Nations.
Another of its former clients will be of particular interest to the music business – Beats Music, the streaming service bought by Apple last year as part of its $3bn takeover of the wider Beats company.
The news comes little over a month after Spotify rival Pandora bought its own ‘big data’ expert, Next Big Sound – a third-party data provider to Spotify.
Seed will now join forces with another music intelligence force at Spotify, The Echo Nest, which Daniel Ek’s company bought for €50m in March last year.
“We are building a world class analytics team that will allow us to accelerate our plan to leverage data and insights throughout the entire organisation.”
Henrik Landgren, Spotify
Seed Scientific’s team and technology will now come under Spotify’s roof, with 20 Seed staff joining the streaming company in New York.
Seed will become the foundation of a new Advanced Analytics unit at Spotify that combines ‘cutting-edge math, science, design, and engineering to craft insights, models, and tools with data’.
Seed Scientific’s founder and CEO, Adam Bly, will head up this new unit, based in NYC.
“Adam and the entire team at Seed Scientific blew us away with their insights around data and analytics, and how to apply those insights to solve real world problems for clients,” said Henrik Landgren, VP of Analytics, Spotify.
“We are incredibly excited to welcome Seed Scientific to Spotify as we continue to build a world class analytics team that will allow us to accelerate our plan to leverage data and insights throughout the entire organization.”
Said Adam Bly: “Seed Scientific was founded to advance ‘Scientific Thinking’ in the world using data. Today, our algorithms, insights, and applications are beneath the surface of major brands, NGOs, and governments. We are thrilled to now be joining forces with Spotify — a pioneer in shaping culture with data — to create the leading advanced analytics organization in the world.”Music Business Worldwide
