To put this in context, Apple’s service revenues (which includes iTunes, the App Store, the Mac App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and AppleCare) generated $11.5bn in the second fiscal quarter of 2019, up from $9.9bn in the same period a year earlier. If – and this is, of course, a gigantic if – the EU comes down unilaterally on the side of Spotify, Apple could face levy fines of up to 10% of its global turnover. (It should be noted that Apple takes 30% on the first year of subscriptions and this drops to 15% for subsequent years.) At the heart of it is the fact that Apple takes a 30% cut of in-app subscriptions on subscription services. In brief, Spotify is arguing that Apple is “tilting the playing field to disadvantage competitors” and filed an official complaint in March, accusing Apple of unfairly using the market dominance of its App Store to work in favour of Apple Music and to work against Spotify and other rival subscription streaming services. Now, according to the FT, the European Union is preparing to formally investigate Spotify-led anti-trust complaints about Apple and its App Store. It is a dispute that has been brewing for a long time and which went public in recent months. Tags: Apple Apple Music EU European Union Legal Spotify
