Spotify's Case Against Apple

By Alan Ai '21Recently, Spotify filed a complaint with the European Commission concerning Apple’s manipulation of their App Store used by iPhones, which has become a priority given that 52% of Spotify usage stems from mobile devices. Within this accusation, Spotify alleges that Apple has been moving the goalposts in terms of the App Store’s guidelines, stating that Apple has been undercutting Spotify’s freedom to compete within the App Store. Although this has only just now burst to the surface, Spotify alleges that this anticompetitive behavior has been occurring ever since the launch of the Spotify app in 2008. These seeds were sown when Apple introduced the “Apple tax” in 2011, in which Apple reserved the right to 30% of all subscription fees for any product within their App Store. As a result, companies like Spotify would be placed under the mercy of Apple’s tightening of the App Store’s rules and regulations.Concerning more recent activity, the focus of the complaint centers on recent placements of policy that would result in the violation of competition laws in the European market. Spotify claims that Apple has finally taken their control of the App Store too far, in attempts to give Apple Music the upper hand within the industry. This is evidenced by Spotify’s claim that updates to the Spotify app were rejected by Apple, as well as the rejection of Spotify’s attempts to create an app for the Apple Watch. Although the specific details of these allegations have been kept private by Spotify, the limited information available points to Spotify having a good case against Apple in this situation, according to KeyBanc analyst Andy Hargreaves, stating, “We believe Spotify is largely on the right side in both facts and principle”. This claim is backed by his statement that the only reason behind Apple’s restrictions on payment methods would be to strongarm their competitors into higher price brackets, to which Apple undercuts with a cheaper option. This is a precedence within the technology industry in that this may be one of the largest stands against Apple’s control of the App Store. Because every company that publishes to the App Store would be at the mercy of Apple, the relationship balance naturally leans towards attempts to appease Apple, as they reserve the right to offer and remove apps at their own will. With this impending complaint, Spotify has essentially taken a stand against Apple in an official venue that many smaller developers have always wanted to take, but have never been able to on their own. Given that the complaint allegedly has a very good case in the eyes of the European Commission, it is likely that Spotify leads the rally against Apple’s constrictive App Store policies. Additionally, this complaint would be in the interest of a large proportion of smaller developers, and thus would likely receive support from said developers in pushing towards a ruling in favor of Spotify.Sources:https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/13/business/spotify-apple-complainhttps://finance.yahoo.com/news/keybanc-warns-apple-invetors-spotify-164351037source=cj&dv=1&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKPvBp94rUFZYujVkJirHOGpUC-rEAxXtsoV8S90XTQpJbNyuVdpUNcslG7p6W-jqzDHwpyx_4qSp6Rx0n8AJ2ipf1mOY91XFHt-rO0d-ro4YhSrJjIEvtFE6588iZItSD2J2T_7bSE2VUx6cS6KHl80fEw3Au8U_3m4vHpt5eCchttps://techcrunh.com/2019/03/13/spotify-files-a-complaint-against-apple-with-the-european-commission-over-apple-tax-and-restrictive-ruleshttps://techcrunh.com/2015/01/10/music-is-a-mobile-linchpinhttps://www.timtoplayfair.comPhoto: https://i1.p.com/www.mansworldindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/hdytf98guij.jpg?fit=1000%2C600&ssl