Apple has not conspired with record labels to beat out competition from other free music streaming services during the launch of Apple Music, the European Commission has found.
The information was reported by Re/code, which cites sources that claim to be close to the investigation.
It was revealed in April that Apple’s music streaming service, which arrived as part of iOS 8.4 back in June, was already on the radar of the European Commission, despite at the time there being no formal investigation.
Apple Music has been under scrutiny since its launch in June
Re/code’s sources claim that though investigators could not find evidence of illegal activity, “files will remain open”. Apparently, the Commission came to this conclusion after it spoke to an array of other streaming services, and record labels. However, despite finding no evidence of collusion, it has started a new investigation into Apple’s App Store policies when it comes to competing music services.
Apple’s streaming service’s standard subscription rate is currently $9.99 per month, whereas competing services like Spotify follow the same rate, many offer a freemium, ad-supported model. The purpose of the investigation was to see if Apple was trying to kill off these free services by wielding its market power to influence record labels.
In the US, a similarly-focused Federal Trade Commission investigation remains open. It’s also investigating Apple’s App Store policies.
European Commission finds no collusion between Apple & record labels: http://t.co/2e90ky0baB pic.twitter.com/WvJdlTIrGX
— TapSmart (@TapSmart) August 10, 2015