Spotify Updates iPhone App With Out-of-App Payment Options in U.S.

[DEMinSoCAL]

You know that Spotify pays the smallest royalties to the artists, don’t you? And you are still happy to use Spotify? What does it say about you? Greedy or not?

Stop with this tiresome argument already. Is someone holding a gun to the heads of artists and making them put their music on Spotify? Did you know Spotify has more subscribers (by alot) than Apple? Did you know artists get more exposure and more plays on Spotify than the others? No one asked you to be their agent or my conscience.

I could personally care less what Spotify pays artists. If they don't like it -- then leave. But they don't, do they?

 

[cupcakes2000]

You know that Spotify pays the smallest royalties to the artists, don’t you? And you are still happy to use Spotify? What does it say about you? Greedy or not?

None of than pay anything like what the music is worth, and they’re not even paying the artists. They’re paying even more middle men. But the argument you’re giving is null, the difference between them all is barely even whole pennies. Apple paying zero point zero one percent more than the other (or whatever the minuscule difference is), is not a particularly valid argument, let alone reason to call a Spotify subscriber ‘greedy’.

 

[cjsuk]

This is laughable.

AWS for example, charges $0.09 per GB for the first 10 TB, decreasing to $0.085 for the next 40 TB and $0.07 for the next 100 TB. *These are price you or I would pay off the street, not a customer like Apple who probably pays half this.

Spotify App: 217.9 MB or 4.58 downloads per GB.
10 million download would = 2,179,000 MB or 2,179 GB.

That's $196 using the discounted rated. Spotify pays $300/year just to host the App.

I could afford to pay for Spotify's app downloads for the year. Meanwhile, there are millions upon millions of people who would NOT use an iPhone if Spotify were not an option for them. DO the math. Apple wants to sell iPhones, and the AppStore sells iPhones.

That scales until you talk about games and larger titles which was my point.

 

[jfreedle2]

Apples current practices ensure you need to keep buying them. Maybe now they’ll make them worth buying on their own merit.

Go on then.

In many countries one needs the app, to validate payments for example.

Where is your data for the opposite then?

Spotify is by a long way the most popular streaming service.

Nope.

 

[0049190]

I used to use Spotify but I feel betrayed and let down by them. I’ve no intention of switching back.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

I used to use Spotify but I feel betrayed and let down by them. I’ve no intention of switching back.

What did they do to you? 🥀

 

[0049190]

What did they do to you? 🥀

They lied about the timescale for delivering hi-res lossless music. It has been “coming soon” for over 4 years.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

They lied about the timescale for delivering hi-res lossless music. It has been “coming soon” for over 4 years.

Yeah it's been a while. Not imminent i don't think either based on the comments this week.

 

[whelmedjedi]

Remove spotify from apple store, apple! I support you!

 

[frenchcamp49er]

Spotify is the Kmart of the music apps.

 

[BBCWatcher]

I could personally care less what Spotify pays artists. If they don't like it -- then leave. But they don't, do they?

Many artists (rights holders really) have left Spotify at various points in time, temporarily and indefinitely. For example, several artists including Neil Young pulled their music to protest Spotify’s deal with Joe Rogan.

Obviously Apple’s attempts to extract 30% commissions from in-app subscriptions were only about helping Apple, not about helping artists. Reducing distribution costs and cutting out middlemen — including Apple and its 30% commissions — certainly doesn’t hurt artists and may help them.

In fairness Apple still offers another distribution system that helps artists fairly well: the iTunes Music Store, i.e. buying music. Apple opened the iTMS when Steve Jobs was Apple’s CEO. It’s better for the artist if you buy the music directly from the artist’s own official online store, but buying music via Apple or Amazon is second best.

 

[paradox00]

Try removing the iOS platform and see how devs feel.

If they feel like they could easily just move over to Android, then they can easily do that today.

It's a mutual benefit. So Apple is drawing a line somewhere where users, Apple, and devs can meet in the middle.

Developers don't move between platforms, they code for both to maximize their reach. It would be easier on them if they only had to code for one platform to maximize their reach. Apple on the other hand, would need to invests $100s of millions annually to replace just a portion of the functionality that third party devs bring to the platform.

The platform is of mutual benefit, but nowhere near where Apple draws the line. The app store could lose money on the App Store and they'd still be gaining a disproportionate benefit from developers based on iPhone hardware sales alone.

 

[Abazigal]

Yes, the structure of the app store is (and has always been) such that apps that do not charge anything in-app pay no fees to Apple, beyond the standard $100 per year. So to at least some degree, those that do offer paid apps or IAP are subsidizing those that don't.

So basically like taxes in real life.

 

[germanbeer007]

I think that developers develop for iOS now because of its size - not necessarily because they want to.

No. Android has 71% marketshare globally.

I get that you like Apple

I own a Pixel 8 Pro and an iPhone 15 Pro Max. I get you hate Apple but I'm the one literally being objective here, having owned both devices and developed for both platforms.

 

[germanbeer007]

Apple is not meeting in the middle.

Agree to disagree. If people didn't like it, they would have left. I have not seen many that left.

 

[germanbeer007]

Where is your data for the opposite then?

I'm not the one making the assertion of one side or the other. If you're going to make the assertion that "most developers are unhappy" you would need data to back that up. It's not my job to prove what doesn't exist. OP says "but you can continue to deny reality if you like", yet there is no data to prove that OP's side is reality.

 

[germanbeer007]

I didn't read your entire back and forth with the other commenter(s) but since you seem hell-bent on the idea that "most developers are happy"...

Nope. I did not make that assertion. Perhaps reading the entire back of forth would have helped you understand my position.

 

[germanbeer007]

Developers don't move between platforms, they code for both to maximize their reach.

Some do, some don't.

It would be easier on them if they only had to code for one platform to maximize their reach.

Phonegap was popular at one point. One codebase for all platforms.

Apple on the other hand, would need to invests $100s of millions annually to replace just a portion of the functionality that third party devs bring to the platform.

Cumulatively, developers would lose out on billions annually if they lost access to iOS userbase entirely.

Luckily if some developers jump iOS, there will be new developers to take place. Just imagine if Duolingo ceases to exist on iOS, there will be a different developer to take its place. Apple doesn't need to replace all the apps themselves, they just let the free market work.

If there are zero developers on iOS, Apple will change the rules to entice developers. It's very simple.

The platform is of mutual benefit, but nowhere near where Apple draws the line.

Majority of developers would have left if Apple didn't meet devs and users at the line.

 

[ctyrider]

I wonder how much it costs Apple to service the millions of copies of their app from the app store?

Perhaps they should offer Epic and Spotify etc to use their own CDN for distribution...

Basically nothing. CDN bandwidth is dirt cheap and distributing a small app around the planet is basically free

 

[ctyrider]

I'm just wondering who the hell is paying for the distribution costs?

I manage stuff like that. It's not free.

What “distribution costs”? Operating an App Store for a company that makes millions dollars from hardware (which App Store keeps afloat) is small cost of doing business

 

[kiv.atso]

While it may be less than what Apple pays, they're not the smallest from what I am seeing. Part of that is due to Spotify having both paid and ad-supported tiers.

View attachment 2507294

My point is they should pay the difference to the artists now that they don’t have to pay AppStore commission.

 

[bluecoast]

No. Android has 71% marketshare globally.



I own a Pixel 8 Pro and an iPhone 15 Pro Max. I get you hate Apple but I'm the one literally being objective here, having owned both devices and developed for both platforms.

I don’t hate Apple. I hate how Tim Cook is running Apple. There’s a difference.

I think he was an amazing ceo in the early years to steady the ship and to propel apple’s growth.

But I think that the greed he has shown over the App Store is appalling. You think it’s ok. Like I said, a federal judge doesn’t think it’s ok. Neither does the EU. Ditto other sovereign countries.

I get it that people come here to celebrate Apple. I have in a lot of posts. But it’s important to call them out when they behave horribly too.

It’s like if you are a fan of a sports team. No one can just sit there and say that absolutely everything that team x does is great year after year, if they are honest with themselves. Sometimes people make not so great decisions and it’s important to acknowledge that.

So I admire the apple that brings out the $999 mba m4. The iPhone of course. The watch. AirPods. The list goes on.

I admire the iPad Air and pro hardware and criticise Apple for still keeping iPadOS as an enhanced iOS and not matching the sheer power that the hardware has.

I think they’ve made a huge stumble over genai - the next tech paradigm - with Siri still mostly incompetent when rivals like Gemini and chat gpt are incredibly able and it’s not at all clear that Apple can catch up now - that’s tim cook’s ultimate responsibility and currently, he’s failed.

And yes, I fundamentally disagree with how they’ve handled the App Store as in another universe they could’ve lessened the commissions they take and explained to Wall Street that sentiment has shifted and it’s important to keep developers on side for the new platforms that Apple will bring out.

You think though that how Apple wants to run its business is ok. Ok then. I’m just saying that a lot of people whose jobs are to regulate big companies and sectors don’t agree with that so I hardly think that my view is ‘out there’ or anything.

 

[kiv.atso]

To me it’s highly unlikely that iPhone users will leave the App Store anyway. We luv Apple products and the Walled Garden so why would we ever leave it? If iPhone users were interested in saving a few dollars we would be buying Samsung.

I couldn’t agree more. I see no reason to trust 3rd party stores to be safer than the AppStore. I’m not saying the AppStore is perfect but I don’t trust any 3rd party store to have the same or better tools Apple uses for app screening so things will slip through even more. My safety however imperfect it is not for sale and none of the freeloading companies will be getting my money anytime soon. Otherwise I would be Android user long time ago.

 

[davide_eu]

I would never leave the safety, reliability, security of the Walled Garden and have my various subscriptions and more importantly my financial information with a bunch of numerous 3rd parties. I really don’t want to manage or what is most likely to happen forget I even have subscriptions everywhere and pay for services I’m no longer using or need. That could quickly get out of hand. I’m under the strong belief that an overwhelming amount of people want the same thing that’s why we buy iPhones and use the App Store.

It's just a cost benefit analysis; are you ready to pay 30% more for keeping all your spending in a single store?

 

[cupcakes2000]

I'm not the one making the assertion of one side or the other. If you're going to make the assertion that "most developers are unhappy" you would need data to back that up. It's not my job to prove what doesn't exist. OP says "but you can continue to deny reality if you like", yet there is no data to prove that OP's side is reality.

I’m still interested in any data either way. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence by the way of angry developers speaking out. I don’t see much in the way of the opposite, anecdotal or otherwise.