Sony Music invests $3 million in Shazam: source

A logo of Sony Corp is seen outside its showroom in Tokyo February 5, 2014. REUTERS/Yuya Shino

By Abhirup Roy (Reuters) - Sony Music Entertainment, a unit of Sony Corp, has invested $3 million in music-recognition application maker Shazam Entertainment, a source familiar with the matter said. A Wall Street Journal blog post said earlier in the day that Vivendi's Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group owner Access Industries had also invested $3 million each in Shazam. (http://link.reuters.com/pet39v) The investments come after Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim invested $40 million in Shazam in July. London-based Shazam's music-recognition technology helps identify song title and artist, along with lyrics, video, artist biography, concert tickets and recommended tracks. Shazam and Sony declined to comment, while Universal Music and Access Industries were not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Sampad Patnaik, Sruthi Ramakrishnan and Abhirup Roy in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)