The European Commission was interested in buying Apple service Shazam

By: Elena Shcherban | 23.04.2018, 21:43

The European Commission, which is the antimonopoly regulator of the European Union,   initiation of an investigation into the transaction   buying Apple music service Shazam. FROM   7 countries immediately applied for the audit: Austria, France, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Spain and   Sweden.

AT   than suspect

The European Commission fears that by purchasing Shazam, Apple will receive " sensitive information for users " and   will promote their service Apple Music. The   there is evidence of   preferences of users of Shazam can be used to increase the audience of Apple Music, and   this is a violation of competition rules.

In addition, now users of Shazam can go to listen to the found song in   Apple Music, Google Play Music, or Spotify. A   this is of order 1   million conversions per day. Now   Apple may disable links to   competitive services.

" For   In recent years, ways of listening to music have changed dramatically, and   More and more Europeans began to use streaming services,   - said a member of the European Commission on   competition issues Margrethe Vestager. -   By our investigation, we   We want to make sure that music lovers continue to use attractive offers from   streaming companies and   not   will face   reduction in   the result of the merger. "

The investigation will last until   4 September.

We recall that o   purchase of Shazam became known in   the end of last year. The deal is evaluated in   $ 400   million

Source: European Commission