Music Labels Questioned by EC Ahead of Apple's (AAPL) Streaming Music Service Launch

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) is on watch Thursday following news that it's dealings with music labels is coming under scrutiny from European regulators.

According to the Financial Times, the European Commission is said to have contacted several labels and digital music companies over agreement with Apple ahead of Apple's streaming music service launch.

Questionnaires are generally triggered by a complaint filed with the EC, but doesn't necessarily mean that authorities will open a probe into Apple.

Regulators may be weary that Apple will use its size, influences, and relationships to move away from free, ad-supported streaming music platforms in favor of its own.

Shares of Apple are lower in early trading.

You May Also Be Interested In

• Midday movers: PepsiCo, JetBlue fall; GM, Danaher and UPS rise
• IBM tumbles on soft Q1 revenue; announces HashiCorp $6.4bn acquisition
• Apple's Q1 smartphone shipments in China tumble 19%, data shows