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That is not entirely accurate when you have a business ( Apple Music ) competing against another business with the same baseline cost and additional advantage of non 30% cut. This is perfectly fine in market like US. But I doubt this will sit well in EU. Which is where the complaint is launched.

This isn't the same as Apps, where you could have less developers, or cheaper developers from different countries, the baseline cost are hard to determine. And the productivity and creativity of every individual are hard to measure. But Streaming Music, most of those cost are in Payment to labels. And it would not be hard to justify this cost in court. Again, this would not sit well with EU.

This is an Anti-Competitive advantage, it was all perfectly fine until Apple decide to launch Apple Music. Which I have been saying for years should not have happen in the first place.

Its Apple's marketplace.... how is it anti competitive if they control their own marketplace.
 
I'm glad Microsoft doesn't get 30% of everything I buy to run on Windows, especially ongoing subscriptions like Youtube TV. I've never had a virus or any sort of malware despite never using real-time protection, and I've been using Windows since 1990. Seems an "app store" isn't even necessary to ensure safety.
 
Spotify’s UI is acquired taste. I personally not a fan of black/green color scheme.

Voice search of what? Siri doesn’t do spotify search. But I agree spotify has the edge on music selection

Free hulu bundle is a frail relationship, simply a marketing joint that can go down anytime, and it’s US only while the majority of spotify userbase is outside.

Remember musixmatch X spotify for lyric feature? Well it was gone
Spotify at this point really just has the better deal. People are already paying money for content on multiple supscription plans Spotify, Netflix, Hulu, and the soon Disney and marvel one and they are ok with it because they know the value already of the content they are getting. Apple deciding to go into the Tv/movie streaming industry with nothing right now than people singing in a car is just not a risk people will want to take. People love and are way more loyal to Apple hardware but when it comes to services in a pre existing market where people are already fed up about having to have multiple subscriptions and have probably allotted just enough money for it to view the content they want, I don't see it happening with Apple.
 
What a total utter load of twoddle from Apple!
It’s nothing more then a desperate charade and spin doctor attempt at deflection, you can usually tell it’s going that way when they start off by giving a history of the App Store...

Their is nothing in there that defends them against the complaint Spotify has made, justifiably IMO. It will be very interesting to see where it all goes..

The only way Spotify can contribute to the App Store is by paying Apple a cut of its profits. That’s it. But they don’t say that do they...

I think when this is investigated it will be deemed the percentage Apple is charging its direct competitors is way too much and the EU will force them to reduce it as it’s breaching competition laws. But we’ll see.
 
Spotify’s UI is acquired taste. I personally not a fan of black/green color scheme.

Voice search of what? Siri doesn’t do spotify search. But I agree spotify has the edge on music selection

Free hulu bundle is a frail relationship, simply a marketing joint that can go down anytime, and it’s US only while the majority of spotify userbase is outside.

Remember musixmatch X spotify for lyric feature? Well it was gone

I prefer a darker app.
VOICE SEARCH, whats unclear about that? lol
i hit the mic, speak, and it always works. apple music is a 60/40 chance it listens correctly, and somehow plays correctly.
and actually, considering the free streaming was a student perk RECENTLY moved mainstream, means its here to stay so....
 
Apple charges 99$ a year to host an app on its platform. What is this charge for? To cover hosting fees?

Then Apple charges 30% of every sale Spotify makes. What is this for? I can't imagine hosting charges to be that high. And Apple makes no contribution to the development of Spotify and its products.

Sure it is Apple's platform and they can do whatever they want with it. But are they being fair?


Well here’s my take on this case. Spotify is an entity that comes separately from Apple. It’s a different company and a different service like hulu, netflix, soundcloud etc
Why would spotify relies on AppStore purchases and be upset about the cut?

Again Spotify is a third party company, any marketing or promotion efforts should be relied first on Spotify.com. Apps for android and appstore should only be the medium/extension of the service.

If itunes billing takes the extra cut then customers can be informed through spotify’s own webpage instead of mobile apps, and they can choose how to pay accordingly. If you go through itunes billing, you may need to pay more. Go direct with us and you’re good with $9.99 as promised. Everybody’s happy. Being a good third party isnt that difficult.
 
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Well Spotify is a third party company, any marketing or promotion efforts should be relied first on Spotify.com.

And how can they compete then with APPLE MUSIC, which has a much more streamlined marketing apporach (everything in app without leaving context) ? You think Apple is charging Apple Music also 30%?
 
I prefer a darker app.
VOICE SEARCH, whats unclear about that? lol
i hit the mic, speak, and it always works. apple music is a 60/40 chance it listens correctly, and somehow plays correctly.
and actually, considering the free streaming was a student perk RECENTLY moved mainstream, means its here to stay so....

When you said Voice Search I was thinking about calling up Siri and tell her something like “play newest song by Sam Smith” on Spotify.

While you meant was that mic button on iphone keyboard. LOL sorry man

You know I really hope Hulu stays bundled with Spotify as well. With upcoming news about Apple’s own video streaming service it’s only a good thing that Spotify/hulu collaboration keeps Apple in check about the pricing and all.
 
I don’t agree that Apple should take 30% from these types of services. Unlike most apps where developers keeps 70%, music and video apps have to pay royalties to artists which comes out of the 70%.
 
I don’t agree that Apple should take 30% from these types of services. Unlike most apps where developers keeps 70%, music and video apps have to pay royalties to artists which comes out of the 70%.
That’s spotify’s problem, not Apple’s.

If Spotify doesn’t have a sustainable business model, then maybe it should just go out of business, or get acquired by another company.
 
When you said Voice Search I was thinking about calling up Siri and tell her something like “play newest song by Sam Smith” on Spotify.

While you meant was that mic button on iphone keyboard. LOL sorry man

You know I really hope Hulu stays bundled with Spotify as well. With upcoming news about Apple’s own video streaming service it’s only a good thing that Spotify/hulu collaboration keeps Apple in check about the pricing and all.
no lol, i meant the voice icon in the spotify app. so like play sam smith, yadda yadda.
it works, almost 100% of the time.
normally I'm screaming at siri to do even rudimentary things.
 
no lol, i meant the voice icon in the spotify app. so like play sam smith, yadda yadda.
it works, almost 100% of the time.
normally I'm screaming at siri to do even rudimentary things.

Must be the region thing since my spotify app (w/ premium account) doesn’t have one, even after holding the search button. I see mic on the keyboard and nothing else

This is the one you were talking about, right?
https://support.spotify.com/us/listen_everywhere/voice_assistants/spotify-voice/
 
As long as Apple doesn't allow promoting service payments which are not part of App Store environment in an app, developers are forced to use in-app purchases along with the 30% cut.
 
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Netflix also exited Apple’s in-app market due to the ridiculous 30% theft, this is not about just some rogue player. Think about it, the innovative streaming icon Netflix is saying no to Apple’s greed too.

Apple is in the wrong here. Regulators will eventually step in if this nonsense escalates as subscription models continue becoming mainstream.
 
That’s spotify’s problem, not Apple’s.

If Spotify doesn’t have a sustainable business model, then maybe it should just go out of business, or get acquired by another company.

This is exactly right.

I can't think of a single justifiable reason for Spotify's complaint. If they don't like the economics of taking advantage of the lucrative platforms Apple have created, they are free to withdraw from this ecosystem at anytime.
 
Well said
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Apple charges 99$ a year to host an app on its platform. What is this charge for? To cover hosting fees?

Then Apple charges 30% of every sale Spotify makes. What is this for? I can't imagine hosting charges to be that high. And Apple makes no contribution to the development of Spotify and its products.

Sure it is Apple's platform and they can do whatever they want with it. But are they being fair?
It is 15% after the first year. 30% for visibility, hosting, payments, refunds and many other things.
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Apple Music is in direct competition with Spotify. So Apple are now sitting on a platform where by everyone else either makes 30% less or is priced 30% higher than your own offering.

Pretty nifty way of stifling competition.
Simple, create your own platform!
 
Apple Music is in direct competition with Spotify. So Apple are now sitting on a platform where by everyone else either makes 30% less or is priced 30% higher than your own offering.

Pretty nifty way of stifling competition.

To me, the Apple experience is made possible by hardware, software and services integrated together. It seems ludicrous to suggest that Apple should not be allowed to create their own apps just because a similar option already exists in the market.

If anything, it’s precisely of scenarios like the whole google maps fiasco that show the importance of Apple owning and controlling such a critical piece of their platform’s infrastructure. How do you know that Spotify won’t try a similar stunt in order to try and extract even greater concessions from Apple?

Apple needs Apple Music to keep Spotify honest. They put in the hard work to build up their platform from scratch, and I don’t see why they can’t be allowed to reap the rewards of their labour in a manner they deem fit.

At the end of the day, a company like Netflix or Spotify just isn't going to be interested in paying anything beyond a nominal fee to Apple for handling payment transactions. This is why I don't think Spotify's main argument is found with Apple charging a "tax." Even if Apple slashed the tax rates to anything more than zero, Spotify would still be upset.

Apple is absolutely right in that Spotify wants a new world order where Apple's platform would add more value to Spotify rather than the current dynamic in which Spotify seems to be adding more value to Apple's platform.

Or to put it another way, just because Apple is wrong doesn’t mean Spotify is right. It’s not about right or wrong, fair or just. It is, and always has been, about power and control (and who has it).

And in the end, there can be only one.

Personally, I still root for Apple (but you all already knew that).
 
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