Spotify to buy Irish app firm Soundwave

MAKING WAVES: TV star, actor and Twitter royalty Stephen Fry, pictured with Carol Vorderman, left, and Davina McCall, has rowed in behind Irish software start-up Soundwave, which may be just about to completely revolutionise the global music industry.

MAKING WAVES: TV star, actor and Twitter royalty Stephen Fry, pictured with Carol Vorderman, left, and Davina McCall, has rowed in behind Irish software start-up Soundwave, which may be just about to completely revolutionise the global music industry.

Spotify

Emma Clark

January 20 2016 11:32 AM

Spotify today announced that it plans to acquire two companies, Soundwave and Cord Project. It says this will help it build a great music experience.

Financial details have not been disclosed.

Soundwave established in 2012 by Brendan O’Driscoll, Aidan Sliney and Craig Watson. The company is based in Rathmines, Dublin 6.

It announced that it will buy Soundwave, a social music app that creates profiles for its users by tracking what they're listening to on streaming services. It lets users follow one another, chat, and swap music. It’s a natural fit for Spotify, which already has similar functions.

Spotify is also to buy Cord Project, which focuses on voice messaging. Its mobile app, Cord, lets users send snippets of audio to individuals or groups. What it has planned for this company is unclear; perhaps users will be able to play out entire conversations through song.

Of course, the acquisitions could also be about the personnel. In Spotify’s press release, exec Shiva Rajaraman says that it gives the company "the opportunity to bring two extremely talented and like-minded teams into the Spotify family."

Buying Soundwave and Cord Project fits Spotify’s “strategy of building a great experience for music fans," according to the press release.