Spotify has acquired two companies -- Cord Project and Soundwave -- that provide some strong clues as to what its next move might be.
Cord Project is a New York-based company whose Cord software is a simple voice-messaging platform for mobile devices. Soundwave, on the other hand, is a Dublin-based startup that has a social networking/music discovery app with 1.5 million downloads under its belt.
The details of the deals have not been announced.
“Spotify is laser focused on delivering innovative and engaging music discovery experiences to delight our millions of users,” Shiva Rajaraman, Spotify’s VP of Product, wrote in a blog post.
Both Cord and Soundwave chipped in with blog posts of their own. And while Soundwave kept it simple -- saying it's now the "perfect time" to "join forces with Spotify" -- Cord gave a little more insight. It claims it plans to leverage "Spotify’s amazing analytics, data, and music catalog to reinvent how we engage with audio across a number of platforms."
Some big news today. We're joining Spotify! https://t.co/UiyaZ2QzEV— Cord (@CordProject) January 20, 2016
So we've some news... @soundwave has been acquired by @Spotify! Thanks to everyone who's helped us on this amazing journey!— Soundwave (@soundwave) January 20, 2016
With more than 20 million paid users, Spotify is still ahead of rival Apple Music, but Apple is a big competitor to have breathing down your neck. It's no wonder that the two companies Spotify just bought hit all the right spots, both in terms of alleviating some of the service's shortcomings and becoming a better competitor to Apple.
To put it bluntly, both Spotify and Apple Music could use better social networking in their products. With these acquisitions, Spotify is well-positioned to build it in the near future.