The war of words between Apple and Spotify continued last week. Apple reckons that Spotify is ungrateful. Spotify says it just wants a level playing field. Both companies issued statements in the ongoing battle over the Apple Tax following reports that EU competition regulators are planning on fining Apple €500 million as a result of an investigation instigated by a complaint made by Spotify back in 2019.
"We’re happy to support the success of all developers - including Spotify, which is the largest music streaming app in the world", Apple said in its statement. "Spotify pays Apple nothing for the services that have helped them build, update and share their app with Apple users in 160 countries spanning the globe. Fundamentally, their complaint is about trying to get limitless access to all of Apple’s tools without paying anything for the value Apple provides".
Not so, said Spotify in its response. Its success, it said, "has happened despite Apple’s best efforts to gain an artificial advantage by favouring their own music service at every turn while placing roadblocks and imposing unfair restrictions on ours. This is not a level playing field. We support the European Commission and trust that they will take action soon to create a fair ecosystem for everyone involved".
Spotify and many other app developers object to Apple's App Store rules regarding in-app payments. Under those rules many app developers are obliged to take in-app payments via Apple's commission-charging transactions system and are not allowed to sign-post alternative payment options outside of the app.
In its statement last week, Spotify explained that means "Apple controls Spotify’s access to its own customers and gives Spotify one of two untenable options: We either have to deliver a poor user experience where we can’t directly communicate how to buy or subscribe to Spotify on iPhones or we have to accept a 30% cost disadvantage against our biggest competitor".
Apple's rules have been the subject of litigation and regulator intervention in multiple counties, with Spotify and other app developers accusing the tech giant of breaching competition law. The EU investigation ultimately focused specifically on the rule prohibiting Spotify from sign-posting other payment options. Reports suggest regulators agree with Spotify that Apple has violated EU competition rules, hence the incoming mega-fine.
Elsewhere in its statement in response to those reports, Apple stressed just how much more successful Spotify is in terms of subscriber numbers compared to its own music streaming service, especially in Europe. It also revealed that the Spotify app has been downloaded and updated more than 119 billion times across Apple devices. Plus Spotify makes use of thousands of Apple's APIs and has been supported by Apple's engineers as it has evolved its app.
So, basically, Spotify should thank Apple for all of its support and shut the fuck up. Spotify could point out that, despite its market dominance, it remains loss-making and is currently undertaking significant downsizing in its bid to become a profitable business. Or, assuming it's not too keen on issuing a self-diss to counter Apple's arguments, it could also say that plenty of less successful music apps have also faced the challenges posed by Apple's rules.
Certainly EU regulators will be keen to stress that, although kickstarted by a complaint from Spotify, their investigation is more wide-ranging than that - they don't see their role as simply refereeing an Apple v Spotify bust up. But both Spotify and European officials seem likely to be on the receiving end of plenty more Apple rage when the outcome of the EU investigation is formally announced.