Apple’s Shazam buy probed
Apple’s takeover of musicidentification service Shazam faces a European Union probe as antitrust regulators raised concerns that the iPhone maker could use the app’s data to lure customers to its own music service.
The EU set a September 4 deadline to investigate whether Apple might get unfair access to commercially sensitive information about users of rival music-streaming services. It will also check if Apple Music competitors would be harmed if Apple were to stop Shazam referring customers to them.
‘‘Access to such data could
"Competing music streaming services could be put at a competitive disadvantage."
allow Apple to directly target its competitors’ customers and encourage them to switch to Apple Music,’’ the EU said. ‘‘Competing music streaming services could be put at a competitive disadvantage.’’
Facebook was fined a year ago for failing to disclose that it could merge its own data with the messaging app WhatsApp. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has talked about data as a currency for free services and how smaller companies may struggle to compete with data-rich rivals.
Apple declined to comment on the EU review.
European consumer advocates BEUC said the takeover was the latest in a long line of popular services ‘‘being swallowed by a few online giants’’.
‘‘If these new services then become part of this established company’s ecoystem there is a risk that it will lead to less choice for consumers,’’ Agustin Reyna of BEUC said.
The Shazam app uses the microphone on a smartphone or computer to identify almost any song playing nearby, then points users to places they can listen to it, such as Apple Music or Spotify. The deal is one of Apple’s largest acquisitions, at a reported US$400 million ($560m) according to people familiar with the transaction last year. –