Last December, the Cupertino-based company announced an agreement with Shazam to take over the company for an amount of around $ 400 million. Shortly after, the European Union announced that it would open an investigation to see if this purchase could affect the competition.
In early September, the European Union closed the investigation giving the approval of the purchase-sale agreement between both companies, a process that has finally ended. The result: Shazam is now completely free to use and will not display any ads. In addition, the Shazam Encore version, paid version without Shazam ads, will be removed from the App Store.
Most likely, over time, Shazam is a very important part of both Apple Music and Siri. For a few years now, Shazam has been integrated into the Siri assistant, and it allows us to ask our assistant for the name of the song that is currently being heard. The problem is that without that question, which makes us lose valuable seconds especially if the song is ending or lasts a few seconds, the song recognition does not start.
According to Oliver Schusser, Vice President of Apple Music:
Apple and Shazam have a long history together. Shazam was one of the first apps available when we launched the App Store and it has become a favorite app for music fans around the world. We share a passion for music and innovation, and we are excited to bring our teams together to offer users even more great ways to discover, listen and enjoy music.
The problem that Apple faced with the European Union was that the Cupertino-based company could eliminate any trace of the streaming music service options it currently offers. every time it recognizes a song, so that each user can play it on their favorite music service, without having to go through Apple Music.