Back in 2008, Sony acquired Gracenote for $260 million. However, it seems that Sony has lost interest in the audio database company and it will be selling off Gracenote to the Tribune Company for $170 million.
Gracenote started out in 1998 as a company called the Compact Disc Database or CDDB, specializing in making data about audio recordings available in an accessible online database. Various media players such as iTunes and Winamp request CDDB data from Gracenote to display information about specific songs and albums. This includes tracklists, album names and other relevant data.
Currently, the company receives over 550 million daily requests from various apps and software from all over the world. Once Tribune takes control of the company, the Tribune Media Services group will manage Gracenote.
Gracenote data requests have increased in recent years in part due to the rise in popularity of apps like MusixMatch and Shazam. These apps can be used to identify songs by using a smartphone's built-in microphone to listen to music from radio programs and television shows. Gracenote is also used in Microsoft's Xbox Music service.
In addition to its CDDB services, Gracenote has also been busy developing new technology that can identify what people are watching on their television sets. The new technology is aimed at providing targeted and personalized TV advertisements similar to what Google does with online advertising. While advertisers usually zero in on their target demographics by making decisions based on specific shows and time slots, the new Gracenote technology will help them target their specific audiences based on a number of other factors.
Gracenote has already been in contact with television manufacturers such as LG to provide automatic content recognition (ACR) services in new smart TVs. It seems likely that Tribune will continue with the development of these new technologies once Gracenote fully comes within its fold.
After the sale is completed, Sony will continue to focus on reducing costs and concentrating on its hardware manufacturing segments. This is especially important in light of the company's $200 million quarterly losses reported from Q3.
