In February, several countries, including Austria, France, Iceland and Spain, asked the European Commission to assess the takeover to determine whether it was permitted under a European Union fusion law. According to the committee, the deal can "have a significant adverse effect on competition in the European Economic Area." This request is now being followed up, with a research deadline of 4 September.

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement: "The way people listen to music has changed considerably in recent years, with more and more Europeans using Music Streaming Services." Our research aims to ensure that music fans continue to enjoy attractive offers. for music streaming and not less choice as a result of this proposed merger. "

Apple confirmed that Shazam bought a $ 400 million deal last December. That number is far from the $ 1 billion that Shazam was worth during the last round of funding, but the company was struggling with profitability, but in 2016 brought in only $ 54 million in revenue. Shazam can be a blessing for Apple in various ways. The music and sound recognition is already integrated with Siri and could get a deeper integration with iOS. Apple could also use Shazam's visual recognition technology for its ARKit efforts.