Spotify asks customers to cancel subscriptions purchased via Apple

An email sent from Spotify to its subscribers could lead to a dispute between the streaming service and its latest competitor Apple Music.

The email, first published by The Verge, requests Spotify customers to cancel their paid subscriptions through the iTunes App Store. “Apple charges 30 percent on all payments made through iTunes,” the email reads. Australian customers who are currently paying AU$14.99 a month for Spotify could be paying $11.99 a month. Scroll down to see the email, courtesy of The Verge.

While Spotify is merely explaining how their customers could save money while receiving the same service, all streaming services rely heavily on the App Store for distribution and Apple reportedly forbids in-app links which allow consumers to make purchases externally.

Last month it was revealed that Apple and the major labels were being investigated by the attorneys general of two US states for collusion. The antitrust investigation followed suspicions Apple tried to persuade labels – or labels collectively conspired with Apple - to abandon free ad-supported tiers like those offered by Spotify and YouTube.

In May, Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek told Bloomberg reporter Joshua Brustein that he was concerned about services such as Apple and Google using their reach to cut off competition.

“If someone uses their platform powers in ways that disadvantage others—which hasn’t happened yet, to be clear—if someone does that, it’s really, really bad,” said Ek.

Interestingly, in April Spotify hired two lobbying firms in Europe to represent it before the European Union and four lobby firms in Washington D.C to enter talks with policymakers about competition, licensing and something it’s calling "platform neutrality." 

Essentially, laws in the US and Europe need to be updated for the digital age; the US Department of Justice is looking to amend its consent decree for music publishers to partially withdraw from blanket licenses held with performance rights societies. On May 15 a hearing of the US House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law was held to discuss the boundaries of antitrust enforcement agencies like the Federal Trade Commission.

With Spotify reportedly pushing for the current investigations into Apple, it could be said its aim is to get Apple to change its behaviour.