Spotify Files An Antitrust Complaint Against Apple Over Unfair Tax

A war between Spotify and Apple is coming as the former has filed an antitrust complaint against the Cupertino giant with the European Union.

In an open letter, Daniel Ek, Spotify CEO, explained the reason behind his action,

App Store, Apple's digital distribution platform, hosts both Spotify and Apple Music, which is a rival of Spotify.

Ek then talked about an Apple policy as an example of unfair competition: the company imposes a 30% tax on purchases made via Apple’s payment system. This policy applies to users who upgrade to the paid premium service of Spotify.

Ek said:

He also mentioned that if his company deliberately avoids using Apple’s payment system, the Cupertino giant could enforce technical restrictions, which in some cases, had stopped Spotify from sending emails to its customers.

When being asked about this matter, Apple didn’t respond immediately.

Ek said his decision was made after both companies failed to come to an agreement.

He said:

Spotify is just one of many tech firms that are taking a stand against Apple. In January, Netflix, found a solution to Apple’s taxation, by not allowing Apple devices users to join the streaming service through Itunes.

The European Commission has never hesitated in punishing tech giants of Silicon Valley. In July, it slammed Google with a record fine of $5 billion for abusing Android platform’s dominance. Google is applying for a reversal of the penalty.

You can read Ek's full blog post here.