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EU Slaps Apple With $1.95 Billion Fine Over Music Streaming
https://www.whatjobs.com/news/usa/us-business-news/eu-slaps-apple-with-1-95-billion-fine-over-music-streaming
By Nithya Bose in Business News, posted March 5, 2024
Apple faces a €1.8 billion ($1.95 billion) fine for monopolistic practices in the music streaming market.
The penalty by the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, stems from Apple's restrictive measures on app developers.
It’s particularly around music streaming services, which allegedly limited consumer access to cheaper subscription options outside Apple's ecosystem.
The EU launched the probe into Apple after a complaint from Spotify in 2019.
It narrowed down the investigation of Apple's contractual restrictions on app developers.
It has prevented developers from directing iPhone and iPad users to alternative, more affordable music subscription services outside its App Store.
The commission said Apple’s conduct lasted nearly a decade.
EU said it “may have led many iOS users to pay significantly higher prices for music streaming subscriptions because of the high commission fee imposed by Apple on developers and passed on to consumers in the form of higher subscription prices for the same service on the Apple App Store.”
"Apple’s rules muzzled Spotify and other music streaming services from sharing with our users directly in our app about various benefits"
Apple launched a strong rebuttal, claiming Spotify holds an immense market share in Europe's music streaming sector.
The company argued that its App Store was crucial to Spotify's success.
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Apple said Spotify, which directly competes with Apple Music, benefits from Apple's platform without paying any commission since it processes subscriptions through its website, circumventing Apple's in-app purchase system that levies a 30 percent fee.
Spotify said: “Apple’s rules muzzled Spotify and other music streaming services from sharing with our users directly in our app about various benefits—denying us the ability to communicate with them about how to upgrade and the price of subscriptions, promotions, discounts, or numerous other perks.
“Of course, Apple Music, a competitor to these apps, is not barred from the same behaviour.”
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