Apple Finally Relents on Spotify In-App Pricing Communications … But Only in Europe

Five long years after it complained to EU regulators about Apple’s anticompetitive business practices, Spotify has finally gotten the “obvious and overdue” ability to communicate with its own customers, in its own app, on the iPhone. All it took was several EU investigations, the creation of two sweeping sets of antitrust laws, two rounds of malicious compliance on Apple’s part after it rejected Spotify app redesigns that forced Apple to conform to its legal requirements, and over $2 billion in fines. But what’s a little back and forth between competitors?

“While we are still many steps from a level playing field, we are beginning to see progress because of the European Commission’s historic decision on March 4, 2024 which found that Apple violated the EU’s antitrust laws and fined them over €1.8 billion,” a Spotify statement explains. “Starting today, Spotify is opting into Apple’s ‘entitlement’ for music streaming services, created after the European Commission’s ruling. This means we will finally be able to offer something as obvious as it is overdue: iPhone consumers in the EU will now see pricing information for Spotify in the app and the fact that they can go to our website to purchase items directly.”

Why Apple suddenly and quietly relented on this one point is as unclear as why it didn’t just let Spotify do this in the first case. But the Big Tech giant’s push-back against its legal requirements under the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA)–which came about because of this behavior–is, of course, infamous. It’s also part of a legal strategy that’s as smart as it is damaging to its carefully constructed reputation: Apple is stalling as long as it can so it can continue to reap unfair revenues for services it does not provide, bolstering its bottom line during a time in which it has no exciting new products to sell.

This is an obvious step in the right direction, for Spotify, common sense, and humanity. But it also applies only to Europe: Another important part of Apple’s revenue retention strategy in this heightened era of antitrust attention is to only conform to its legal requirements in those places it is required to do so. That is, Spotify customers in the U.S. and elsewhere around the globe will not see this change in the smaller company’s iPhone app.

As for the change that Apple denied Spotify for several years, it’s as innocuous as it sounds: As required by the DMA, Spotify can display pricing in its iPhone app and its customers can tap a link that brings them outside the app, to an external website, where they can pay for Spotify outside of Apple’s walled garden. Spotify first made this change in early 2024, when the DMA went into effect, but Apple rejected the app update and implemented a convoluted set of changes to the iPhone that ensured its fee structures would survive. And so Spotify complained to the EU, which fined Apple €1.8 billion (a bit over $2 billion) for abusing its market dominance. Following an investigation, the EU determined that Apple wasn’t complying with the DMA–in iOS broadly–setting up yet another round of tug-of-war between the EU and Apple.

Spotify isn’t Apple’s only victim, of course. Epic Games, Microsoft, and other companies have been complaining about the company’s belligerent, malicious non-compliance with the DMA all year. And if you think its relationship with Spotify is toxic, Apple has engaged in even worse retributions against Epic Games, which Apple was forced to let back into its App Store. It responded by shutting down Epic’s new App Store account, but then sullenly relented after pressure from the EU and the public. As it did with Spotify, Apple has since rejected Epic Games’ new app store twice, despite its legal requirements.

There’s so much more. Looking just at the past six months or so, Apple has shored up its defense of fees with products, services, and technologies as diverse as digital wallets, alternative app stores, text messaging, PWAs (web apps), and game streaming services, sometimes backtracking, as it finally did with Spotify, sometimes not. It also retaliated against EU regulators by denying new AI features to EU customers, yet another move the EU decried, threatening legal action. Oh, and it’s not just Europe: The U.S. Department of Justice and multiple U.S. states sued Apple for similar antitrust violations in the United States as well.

As for Spotify, it says that its customers in the EU will finally benefit from seeing its real pricing structures, including promotional seasonal pricing. But there’s more to do. When you compete with Apple, that’s always true.

“While this is progress, it’s only a small step in the long march towards giving iPhone consumers basic product experiences they expect and deserve in their apps – experiences that users of other phones already enjoy,” Spotify explains. “Unfortunately, Spotify and all music streaming services in the EU are still not able to freely give consumers a simple opportunity to click a link to purchase in app because of the illegal and predatory taxes Apple continues to demand, despite the Commission’s ruling. The fight continues.”

True. But the EU is investigating that malicious compliance right now. And if the recent past is any guide, Apple will be forced, kicking and screaming, to make further changes that will benefit its customers, its partners, and its competitors. As Spotify notes, “If the European Commission properly enforces its decision, iPhone consumers could see even more wins, like lower cost payment options and better product experiences in the app.”

You can learn more about Spotify is trying to achieve on its Time to Play Fair website.