Apple’s Shazam acquisition expected to be approved in EU after investigation

Despite announcing plans to buy Shazam last December, Apple still doesn’t own the music recognition service due to pending regulatory approval in Europe. With the deadline for an investigation into the acquisition set for September 4, Reuters is reporting that a decision in favor of Apple is likely.

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Citing anonymous sources, Reuters says the deal will likely be approved without conditions.

EU antitrust regulators are set to approve Apple’s (AAPL.O) bid for British music discovery app Shazam without demanding concessions, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The European Commission launched an ‘in-depth’ four month investigation into the proposed deal before allowing or blocking Apple’s takeover of Shazam back in April. The concern is that Apple (and Apple Music) may have an unfair advantage over competitors once it has ownership of the data collected by Shazam.

Apple already integrates with Shazam through Siri through a licensing deal, but owning the service could translate to better integration (like automatic tagging) and direct integration in the Music app. Shazam is also expected to be a goldmine for music analytics data that could help Apple program its streaming music service.

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Apple hasn’t publicly discussed Shazam, which continues to operate independently, since it confirmed plans to buy the firm, but it called Apple Music and Shazam ‘a natural fit’ when it announced the acquisition.

We are thrilled that Shazam and its talented team will be joining Apple. Since the launch of the App Store, Shazam has consistently ranked as one of the most popular apps for iOS. Today, it’s used by hundreds of millions of people around the world, across multiple platforms.

Apple Music and Shazam are a natural fit, sharing a passion for music discovery and delivering great music experiences to our users. We have exciting plans in store, and we look forward to combining with Shazam upon approval of today’s agreement.

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