Spotify has hit back at Apple, who had earlier slammed the music streaming service for wanting all benefits of a free app without being free, calling the iPhone maker a 'monopolist'.
Spotify had filed a complaint with EU antitrust regulators against Apple, saying the trillion dollar company unfairly limits rivals to its own Apple Music streaming service. Spotify said that Apple requires digital services to pay a 30 per cent tax on purchases through Apple's payment system. Spotify alleges that the payment of this tax would lead to artificial inflation of its premium membership price above that of Apple Music's.
Apple had responded that its revenue share is 30 per cent only for the first year of an annual subscription and then drops to 15 per cent. The tech giant added that the only thing Apple required was for customers to pay for services through their secure in-app purchase system.
Apple further accused Spotify for squeezing the artists, musicians and songwriters. It said that Spotify wanted all the benefits of a free app without being free.
The iPhone makers' response about Spotify wanting all the benefits of a free app prompted the Swedish music streaming giant to remark that Apple's stand was in line with what they were expecting and that all monopolist will maintain that they have done nothing wrong.
Spotify further said that Apple believed that the Spotify users on iOS are Apple customers and not Spotify customers, and will argue that they have the best interests of consumers at heart.
