EU clears Apple's acquisition of British music app Shazam 

Apple and Shazam Margrethe Vestager
Margrethe Vestager, the Commissioner in charge of competition policy, approved the deal on Thursday Credit: REUTERS

EU regulators have cleared Apple's takeover of British song-recognition app Shazam despite opposition from member states. 

The European Commission carried out a review of the  $400m (£300m) deal after it was announced in December.

There were concerns by countries, including Austria, France, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden, that the acquisition could place Apple's rivals, such as Spotify, at a disadvantage. 

They argued that Apple could gain access to commercially sensitive data about its competition's customers by owning Shazam.

Shazam, which was founded in London in 1999, is a developer and distributor of music recognition applications for smartphones, tablets and PCs.

It mainly generates revenues from online advertising, and commissions earned on referrals of users to digital music streaming and download services, such as Spotify and Deezer.

However the EU Commission ruled on Thursday that the deal would not adversely affect competition in Europe or any substantial part of it.

It said its investigation took feedback from “key market participants in the digital music industry, including providers of music streaming and music recognition services, as well as other stakeholders.”

Apple also offers a music and video streaming service called Apple Music. The music service is now thought to have surpassed Spotify for paid subscribers in the US.

However, Apple Music is still behind Spotify globally, with Spotify's paid user numbers almost double that of Apple.

Margrethe Vestager, the commissioner in charge of competition policy, said: "Data is key in the digital economy.

“We must therefore carefully review transactions which lead to the acquisition of important sets of data, including potentially commercially sensitive ones, to ensure they do not restrict competition.

“After thoroughly analysing Shazam's user and music data, we found that their acquisition by Apple would not reduce competition in the digital music streaming market."

Spotify declined to comment. 

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