Apple is responding in response to the complaint from the European Commission (EC) of Spotify. In a news release from the newsroom, the company said that Spotify “seeks to maintain all the benefits of the App Store ecosystem … without making any contribution to that market.” He added that the App Store has generated $ 120 billion for developers while offering users a secure platform, and that Spotify is trying to avoid the rules that all other applications follow.
“Spotify has every right to determine its own business model, but we feel an obligation to respond when Spotify wraps its financial motives in a deceptive rhetoric about who we are,” the company wrote.
Spotify’s main argument was that Apple’s music service, Apple Music, is not subject to the same restrictions as its own application. “[A] pps should be able to compete fairly on the merits, and not depending on who owns the App Store,” wrote CEO Daniel Ek. “We should all be subject to the same set of rules and restrictions, including Apple Music.” He added that Apple had often blocked it in the application updates and had blocked it in Apple’s services, “like Siri, HomePod and Apple Watch.” Finally, he pointed out that Apple had blocked communication with its own customers on things like special offers.
In response, Apple addressed each complaint point by point, while criticizing Spotify’s dealings with musicians and artists. He said he has approved about 200 application updates and “the only time we have requested adjustments is when Spotify has tried to circumvent the same rules that all applications follow”.
Just this week, Spotify sued music makers after a decision by the United States Copyright Board required Spotify to increase its royalty payments. This is not only incorrect, it represents a real, significant and damaging setback for the music industry.
Apple notes that it has approached Spotify about Siri and Airplay, “they have told us they are working on it and we are ready to help them when we can”. He added that Spotify is “deeply integrated” into Carplay, and that its developers can access the same tools as anyone else.
The company expressed its surprise at the claim of the Spotify’s Watch application and said that “we review and approve it with the same process and speed as we would with any other application.” In fact, the Spotify Watch application is currently the number application. 1 in the Watch Music category. “
With respect to the 30 percent charge for digital content within the application in the App Store, Apple notes that 84 percent of applications pay nothing, including Spotify’s own advertising application. As such, “only a small fraction of its subscriptions falls under Apple’s revenue share model,” Spotify is asking for that number to be zero. “
He added that “Spotify would not be the business they have today without the ecosystem of the App Store, but now they are taking advantage of its scale to avoid contributing to maintain that ecosystem for the next generation of application entrepreneurs. (Spotify has 96 million subscribers paid along with 50 million Apple).
Although Apple charges 30 percent of digital revenue in the first year, it is 15 percent after that, he said, noting that Spotify has a double standard in terms of revenue sharing. “A significant portion of Spotify customers come through partnerships with mobile operators, which does not generate any contribution from the App Store, but requires Spotify to pay a similar distribution fee to retailers and suppliers.”
Finally, Apple hinted that Spotify has not been exactly good for artists, as it had recently sued music makers after the United States Copyright Board ordered an increase in royalty payments. “Under the rhetoric, the goal of Spotify is to earn more money with the work of others, and it’s not just the App Store that they’re trying to squeeze, they’re also artists, musicians and composers,” he said.
However, Apple did not really address Spotify’s main argument that its own music streaming application, Apple Music, is not subject to the same restrictions it imposes on Spotify (much of this is detailed in Engadget’s explanation of the complain).
That is the key, because in the past, the EU has ruled against technological giants like Microsoft. In that historical case, he said that the company took advantage of its Windows ecosystem to promote its own browser before other applications. In a similar case, it also affected Google with a $ 5 billion fine for abusing its Android platform to support its own Chrome and Search services.
It remains to be seen if you will see the situation of Apple and Spotify in a similar light. However, with his latest rebuttal, Apple drew the battle lines and showed how he plans to fight the complaint.