Apple’s Shazam acquisition hits a roadblock as EU investigation gets underway

It looks like Apple's plan to acquire Shazam for as much as $400 million has hit a roadblock. This week, the European Commission announced plans to investigate the acquisition deal over fears that it could negatively impact competition. Multiple countries, including Spain, Austria, France and Iceland requested that the EU Commission investigate the deal before it goes through.

The goal is to investigate how much Apple's acquisition of Shazam could hurt local competing services in Europe and whether or not such a merger would be allowed under European law. Apple announced plans to acquire Shazam back in December, in an effort to bolster Apple Music and Siri with features from the well-known music discovery app.

Spotify in particular could lose out if Apple acquires Shazam and shuts the app down. Both Apple Music and Spotify gain referrals and link clicks through the Shazam app on iOS and Android. If Apple takes that away, then it would hurt Spotify, which as The Verge points out, could be part of the European Commission's concerns.

So far, Apple has not responded to the EU's plans to investigate the deal. However, the company will likely have to explain its side of things fairly soon in order to get the deal wrapped up.

KitGuru Says: The Shazam acquisition came out of the blue and seemed very sudden. However, it does make sense given that Shazam is already baked into Siri. Still, it looks like the deal could be stalled now that the EU is investigating it.

Become a Patron!