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European regulators have given the green light to December 2017 Acquisition of the music recognition discovery company and Shazam images.
Apple Music is the second music streaming service in Europe, after Spotify . While Shazam offers what has been described as "a leading music recognition app" in the region (and around the world).
TechCrunch announced the news of the acquisition last year – reporting that Apple's price for starting the UK start-up was about $ 400 million. Apple confirmed our scoop a few days later.
But two months later, the European Union Competition regulators said they were considering the agreement, an initiative triggered by concerns raised by several countries of the European Economic Area (EEA).
Then, in April, the Commission carried out a thorough investigation.
Today, after conducting its in-depth investigation, the Commission has expressed its satisfaction that the agreement does not harm competition in the EEA – and has given it the go-ahead.
Commenting in a statement, Antitrust Chief Executive Margrethe Vestager said, "Data is essential in the digital economy. We must therefore carefully consider the transactions that lead to the acquisition of important data sets, including potentially commercially sensitive sets, to ensure that they do not restrict competition. After a thorough analysis of Shazam's user and music data, we found that their acquisition by Apple would not reduce competition in the digital music streaming market. "
We asked Apple to comment.
In taking this decision, the Commission found that Apple and Shazam mainly offer complementary services that do not compete with each other.
He says his investigation examined:
- whether Apple would gain access to commercially sensitive customer data from its competitors for the provision of music broadcasting services in the EEA, and whether such data would allow Apple to directly target its competitors' customers and encourage them to switch at Apple Music. As a result, competing music streaming services could have been at a competitive disadvantage
- given Shazam's strong position in the music recognition application market, if Apple Music's competitors would be harmed if, after the deal, Apple had to stop them from sending the Shazam app
The decision to clarify the agreement was taken after what he described as "a wide range of investigative measures". It also states that it was necessary to gather feedback from 'the major players in the digital music industry market, including music delivery service providers and music recognition, as well as to the music industry. other stakeholders ".
It stated today that it did not believe that the merged entity could exclude competing suppliers by accessing commercially sensitive data about their customers.
Nor did it believe that the merged entity could exclude competing suppliers by restricting access to the Shazam app – claiming that the app was "of limited importance as an entry point for music delivery services". competitors of Apple Music ".
The Commission also found that the combined user data sets of Shazam and Apple were not able to confer "a unique advantage on the merged entity in the markets in which it operates".
"Concerns in this regard have been ruled out because Shazam's data is not unique and Apple's competitors would still have the ability to access and use similar databases," the statement added.
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