LONDON – Spotify CEO Daniel Ek Branded his firm’s relationship with Apple “completely unsustainable” Thursday. He said this was due to its control of the App Store. Spotify has already launched legal action against Apple in the EU.
Previously ‘Mutually Beneficial Partnership’
Speaking in Berlin, Mr. Ek said: “What initially felt like a mutually beneficial partnership, increasingly felt very one-sided. And it’s now become completely unsustainable.”
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“It’s fairly widely known that Steve Jobs initially wanted only Apple content on the App Store, he added (via AppleInsider). However, Job’s “reversal just a year later to invite outside partners in, increased consumer demand and altered the fate of the app market overall,” Mr. Ek commented
The Spotify CEO’s attack came just a day after his company launched a complaint with the European Commission against Apple. Announcing the action, Mr. Ek said that Apple imposed a 30% tax on App Store Purchases. This “would force us to artificially inflate the price of our Premium membership well above the price of Apple Music,” he said. He argued this gives Apple an unfair advantage.
And yet Spotify (and other similar services) furiously resist paying anything close to a reasonable payment to the creators/performers of the music who’s music they “play for profit”