Spotify on Wednesday announced it filed an antitrust complaint against Apple with the European Commission over unfair App Store practices. Apple responded two days later, labeling the complaint as "misleading rhetoric" and arguing that "Spotify wants all the benefits of a free app without being free."
The war of words has since continued. In a statement issued to Variety, Spotify said "every monopolist will suggest they have done nothing wrong" and that, consequently, Apple's response was "entirely in line" with its expectations.
Spotify's statement:
Every monopolist will suggest they have done nothing wrong and will argue that they have the best interests of competitors and consumers at heart. In that way, Apple's response to our complaint before the European Commission is not new and is entirely in line with our expectations.
We filed our complaint because Apple's actions hurt competition and consumers, and are in clear violation of the law. This is evident in Apple's belief that Spotify's users on iOS are Apple customers and not Spotify customers, which goes to the very heart of the issue with Apple. We respect the process the European Commission must now undertake to conduct its review.
See Spotify's Time to Play Fair website and Apple's Addressing Spotify's Claims press release for each company's stance.
Top Rated Comments
But 30%? Are you kidding me, even 15%?
I would think services like this would expect 1-5%. Apple is greedy, pure and simple.
Embarrassing.
They fail to mention that App Store brings in double as much revenue compared to Google Play Store, if you’re not happy with Apples 15% cut, just use Play Store and see how it goes for your business.
And also, Spotify decided to go to court so they could have a bigger cut from the poor artists while Apple decided not to. They’re such a hypocrite