Stockholm-based music streaming giant, Spotify, recently filed a complaint against Apple with the European Commission accusing it of violating anti-trust regulations. Recently, the Commission has been tough regarding anti-trust laws specifically related to bug tech companies.
Spotify reasoned that Apple has an ‘unfair advantage’ over its competitors as its control of its App Store limits customer choices and puts the pressure of fees on its rivals. Spotify has only approached the EU Commission after it failed to resolve the issue directly with Apple.
Spotify’s CEO explained that since the recent introduction of new rules for the App Store, the company has been acting both as a player and referee to deliberately disadvantage other app developers.
Due to these new rules, Spotify has to pay Apple a 30% tax on items purchased through Apple’s payment system. These fees disable Spotify as well as other digital services to maintain competitiveness when the market has more or less been monopolized by Apple.
Interestingly, Apple does not characterize these fees as ‘tax’, rather as a revenue share model for the App Store. Paid apps that don’t have a subscription model are also required to give Apple a 30% cut of each sale.
The CEO also accused Apple of blocking Spotify and other competitors from Apple’s services such as Siri, Home pod and Apple Watch.