EU regulators have long approved the acquisition of Shazam by Apple – BGR

We do not know yet how much Apple has agreed to pay or what is its plan for the service. Nevertheless, European regulators said today that they had given their official green light to the acquisition of the Shazam music recognition app, announced by Apple in December.

Apple would have paid a few hundred million dollars for the application, with its well-known ability to extract an audio sample and correctly identify the music played. This ability has already made its way to Siri, and it should be a boost for Apple Music, perhaps as a tool for discovering songs or new artists.

In explaining its approval of the agreement, the European Commission said today that Apple and Shazam "offer mainly complementary services and do not compete with each other". The Commission also stated that the merged entity "could not exclude digital music delivery service providers by accessing commercially sensitive information about their customers.

"Data is essential in the digital economy," said EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager in a statement. "We therefore need to carefully examine the transactions that lead to the acquisition of important data sets, including potentially commercially sensitive data, 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. "

Now, just know how Apple will put the service at the service of its own offers. A 9to5Mac The report notes that there are potential synergies, even outside the key identifying features of Shazam's music, such as synchronized lyrics that highlight the right line when playing a song.

Another comment today focused on Apple's potential to use Shazam to make a name for itself on Spotify, even though it's still not clear. Nevertheless, music is certainly an area on which Apple is focusing more and more. Its Apple Music offering, in particular, is part of the company's service offering, which includes underwriting agreements generating a steady stream of revenue to complement Apple's more cyclical device businesses.