Apple hits back against Spotify's App Store antitrust complaint

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Apple isn't taking Spotify's complaints about its "Apple tax" lying down. The tech company responded with its own lengthy rebuttal of the streaming service's complaints. Spotify filed an antitrust complaint against Apple with the European Commission, claiming the Apple's App Store rules deliberately "limit choice and stifle innovation at the expense of the user experience." The streaming service is complaining about the 30 percent "Apple tax" and that Apple is playing "both a player and referee" in its store.

Apple refutes the claims Spotify released in a lengthy statement that High Snobiety summarized, “After using the App Store for years to dramatically grow their business, Spotify seeks to keep all the benefits of the App Store ecosystem… 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… Just this week, Spotify sued music creators after a decision by the US Copyright Royalty Board required Spotify to increase its royalty payments."

That last statement, while unrelated to the original complaint, wants to put Spotify in a bad light—as what happens with PR blitzes like this. The Verge explains this issue in this story, and essentially, Spotify isn't suing creators. But that isn't going to stop either company from making sure it wins this fight. We're sure we haven't heard the last from either Spotify or Apple.