Harman acquires Roon – Roon Labs LLC. part of Harman Lifestyle Division

It is an announcement that hardly anyone expected: Harman is acquiring Roon, the software company Roon Labs LLC. will become part of the Harman Lifestyle Division, as Harman International Industries has now announced in a press release. The media management and multi-room hi-res audio streaming software is to become part of Harman’s broad-based offering in the Lifestyle Division.

Harman, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. focused on connected technologies for the automotive, consumer and enterprise markets, today announced the acquisition of Roon, the music management, discovery and streaming platform for music lovers, as the software is called by Harman itself.

The company emphasises the many features that characterise the software platform from Roon Labs LLC., such as the particularly intuitive user interface for browsing and discovering music, the compatibility with a wide range of audio systems from various manufacturers and, last but not least, the scalability for a wide range of tasks.

“At Harman, we take great pride in our ability to create exceptional audio experiences for our partners and customers around the world. The Roon team shares our passion for bringing exceptional sound and connectivity to music lovers as they browse, discover and listen at home and on the go. We look forward to welcoming Roon to the Harman family, whose impressive talents will enhance our already robust technical capabilities.”

Dave Rogers, President, Lifestyle Division, Harman

Roon as an independent division of Harman

It is emphasised that Roon will continue to operate as an independent division of Harman, and that the existing team will remain intact and continue to drive the development of Roon.

The collaboration with a wide range of partners, which is so important for Roon’s success, is also to continue unchanged in the future, with the employees of Roon Labs LLC who have been responsible to date.

In line with its “work with all” strategy, Harman is committed to expanding Roon’s open device ecosystem, which includes working with more than 160 other audio brands and providing audio for more than 1,000 high-performance devices, the company said in the press release.

Roon’s commitment to its loyal community and exceptional UI/UX design expertise will continue to grow and thrive through the acquisition, Harman promised.

“Our team is thrilled to join Harman, a visionary company that has been driving the audio industry forward for decades. By joining forces with Harman, Roon will benefit from the incredible scale, resources and reach of a global technology leader, while retaining our independence to invest in the growth and future of the company. We look forward to continuing to bring our advanced data management, SaaS expertise and consumer engagement capabilities to our broad ecosystem of partners as we join forces with Harman to deliver even better audio experiences to our customers.”

Enno Vandermeer, CEO of Roon Labs LLC.

What does it mean to you…

This is the headline on Roon Labs LLC.’s website, which seems to be at least a little bit of preparation for the expected onslaught of questions from existing customers.

The headline literally describes the events surrounding the takeover and possible effects on existing customers and the software as a whole:

• In broad terms, Roon will continue exactly as it is.
• All monthly, annual and lifetime subscriptions remain valid and will continue without interruption. Trial versions will continue and be converted as usual. There will be no changes to our billing processes.
• The community site will continue to be the home for discussions about Roon, audio and music.
• The customer success and support service will continue to function as before.
• All supported audio products will continue to work with Roon, and we will certify new Roon Ready and Roon Tested products from all brands.
• The familiar faces from our team will be here as always.

Getting to the point

Hardly anyone expected this: Roon Labs LLC. will become part of the Harman International Industries Group, specifically part of Harman’s Lifestyle Division, as the two companies have now announced in a joint press release. The key point here is that Roon will continue to operate independently in the future, as Harman has now announced. The bottom line is that the takeover will not change anything for customers.