Last week Spotify started to send out emails to its users, informing them that they should subscribe to Spotify’s service via their website directly, as opposed to subscribing to it via the iTunes App Store. This is because the iTunes App Store charges a 30% cut on all in-app sales which includes subscriptions.This has resulted in Spotify charging $12.99 for their monthly service versus the $9.99 if you subscribed directly from them. Now it seems that Spotify is not the only one a little unhappy with this setup. According to a report from Reuters, it seems that the FTC is now looking at Apple for a possible antitrust violation when it comes to rival music streaming apps.
According to Tyler Goldman, the CEO of Deezer North America was quoted as saying, “The margin in music is quite small, and the App Store diminishes the margin. It will be an issue for the industry going forward. You can either raise your prices and not be competitive with Apple’s price, or you can have no margin.”
There are also other complaints, such as how companies are not allowed to advertise the fact that their app is available on a competing platform, and that they can subscribe directly from the company’s website, and that they’re not allowed to link to their website from the app itself. That being said, this is not a formal investigation meaning that Apple isn’t in any trouble yet.
Filed in . Read more about Apple Music, Apps, Ftc, Legal and Spotify.