Apple has responded to Spotify’s legal complaint against the company, calling the case “misleading rhetoric,” adding that Spotify “seeks to keep all of the benefits of the App Store ecosystem… without making any contributions to the marketplace”.
“We believe that technology achieves its true potential when we infuse it with human creativity and ingenuity. From our earliest days, we’ve built our devices, software, and services to help artists, musicians, creators, and visionaries do what they do best,” Apple said in a press statement.
“Sixteen years ago, we launched the iTunes Store with the idea that there should be a trusted place where users discover and purchase great music and every creator is treated fairly. The result revolutionized the music industry, and our love of music and the people who make it are deeply ingrained in Apple.”
“Eleven years ago, the App Store brought that same passion for creativity to mobile apps. In the decade since, the App Store has helped create many millions of jobs, generated more than $120 billion for developers and created new industries through businesses started and grown entirely in the App Store ecosystem.”
Playing by the same rules
“At its core, the App Store is a safe, secure platform where users can have faith in the apps they discover and the transactions they make. And developers, from first-time engineers to larger companies, can rest assured that everyone is playing by the same set of rules.”
“That’s how it should be. We want more app businesses to thrive — including the ones that compete with some aspect of our business because they drive us to be better.”
“What Spotify is demanding is something very different. After using the App Store for years to dramatically grow their business, Spotify seeks to keep all the benefits of the App Store ecosystem — including the substantial revenue that they draw from the App Store’s customers — without making any contributions to that marketplace.”
“At the same time, they distribute the music you love while making ever-smaller contributions to the artists, musicians, and songwriters who create it — even going so far as to take these creators to court.”
Misleading rhetoric
“Spotify has every right to determine their own business model, but we feel an obligation to respond when Spotify wraps its financial motivations in misleading rhetoric about who we are, what we’ve built and what we do to support independent developers, musicians, songwriters and creators of all stripes.”
Apple added that the only time the company has rejected Spotify app updates was when the firm tried to sidestep App Store rules and noted that the “majority of customers use their free, ad-supported product, which makes no contribution to the App Store.”
Subscriptions
Apple takes a 30% cut of in-app purchases and subscriptions, something Spotify says is unfair and uncompetitive, but that drops to 15% after a year of continuous subscription.
Last week, Apple came out as the only major music streaming service not to appeal a royalties increase for songwriters and musicians, with Spotify, Amazon Music, Google, and Pandora all contesting a rise.
“The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), in a split decision, recently issued the U.S. mechanical statutory rates in a manner that raises serious procedural and substantive concerns. If left to stand, the CRB’s decision harms both music licensees and copyright owners. Accordingly, we are asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to review the decision.”
Apple is widely rumored to be releasing new subscription products in the coming weeks, both a new magazine subscription service and a television and movie streaming service.
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