“European regulators will launch an in-depth investigation of Apple’s planned $400m purchase of Shazam, the music recognition app developed in the UK,” BBC News reports. “The European Commission said an initial probe found Apple may encourage Shazam users to switch to its own music streaming service following a takeover.”
“Apple said in December that it intended to buy Shazam,” The Beeb reports. “The Commission now has 90 working days to decide whether to approve the deal.”
“Although it does not consider Shazam to be a ‘key entry point’ for music streaming services, the Commission will consider whether Apple Music’s competitors would be harmed if Apple discontinued referrals from the Shazam app to them after a takeover,” The Beeb reports. “Spotify subscribers, for instance, can have songs identified on Shazam automatically added to a playlist in the streaming app.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Shazam does not have a monopoly on music discovery. The European Commission is wildly overreaching while needlessly delaying Apple’s acquisition of Shazam.
Behold the languid expediency of meddlesome bureaucrats unfurling unnecessary red tape! — MacDailyNews, March 15, 2018
SEE ALSO:
EU antitrust regulators to decide on Apple’s purchase of Shazam by April 23 – March 15, 2018
Why the EU Is holding up Apple’s Shazam acquisition – February 7, 2018
Why Apple bought Shazam – December 13, 2017
Apple’s $400 million purchase of Shazam: Good news or bad news for startups? – December 12, 2017
Shazam! Apple’s Siri gets better – December 11, 2017
Apple could be missing out on the smart home if they take too much longer to get things right – December 11, 2017
Why is Apple buying Shazam? – December 11, 2017
Apple said to acquire music recognition service Shazam – December 8, 2017
If I were a Spotify user and Apple changed Shazam to not add songs to my Spotify playlist, I would find another bit of song recognition software. SoundHound had potential back in the day, as I recall.
The European Commission are still upset about Brexit. They could see them fools coming out with silly rules & regulations, to try a justify their high pay packets & I believe, they don’t even get voted in by the public. They’re skimming so much money it’s unbelievable they get away with it. Oh wait, they’re not going to rat themselves out, are they.
EU doing dump crap again.
dumb*
“Although it does not consider Shazam to be a ‘key entry point’ for music streaming services, the Commission will consider whether Apple Music’s competitors would be harmed if Apple discontinued referrals from the Shazam app to them after a takeover…”
To a large extent, capitalism is based on the idea of “harming” competitors by taking their business through more effective products, better customer service, better pricing, better integration, etc. Will competitors be harmed by this purchase? I hope so, otherwise why would Apple pursue it if not to gain some advantage? However, as long it isn’t a case of a monopoly or near-monopoly leveraging its power to marginalize the competition or increase barriers to entry, then that is perfectly fine (or should be).
I admire many aspects of the EU. But this particular case does seem like overreach and much ado about nothing.