London-headquartered music discovery app company Shazam has bought back its audio recognition technology and related patents that identify music on the Shazam service from US performing rights company Broadcast Music Inc (BMI). Shazam sold the intellectual property rights to BMI in 2005 to fund its development as a direct to consumer brand. By regaining the IP, Shazam claims it can integrate the technology into its services to a greater extent than before and expand its product line.

Shazam – which has apps for Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Java, Symbian  and Windows mobile platforms – says it has added more than one million people to its services every week over the past year and has more than 150 million users globally.

“This is the optimal time to repurchase the technology and patents so that we can continue to add to and protect our growing portfolio which will, in turn, allow Shazam to broaden our range of products, further developing Shazam for TV and other innovative offerings,” Shazam CEO Andrew Fisher said in a statement.

BMI will continue to use the technology as part of its recognition services to identify and measure performances of music to ensure artists receive the licence fees they’re owed. BMI will become a shareholder in Shazam and the two companies will work together on marketing and the development of new BMI services. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.