After much back and forth earlier this year, Spotify on Wednesday says it’s now received approval from Apple to display pricing information in its iOS app for users in the EU. The company is not opting into Apple’s new business rules under the EU’s Digital Markets Act, but rather is taking advantage of new antitrust guidelines imposed by the EU specifically for music streaming apps.
Apple in March was fined by European regulators €1.84 billion (nearly $2 billion USD) for breaching antitrust rules in the market. Spotify and Apple have also gone back and forth over an update to Spotify’s app that would allow the music streamer to share pricing information with EU users.
Now, Spotify says its app update has been approved, and it will be able to display the pricing for things like Spotify subscriptions and digital goods, including Spotify’s more recently added collection of audiobooks.
The latter includes the ability to show the pricing for subscription plans that include audiobook streaming, as well as “top off” hours users can buy to complete their audiobook listening and a la carte audiobook prices.
However, what Spotify won’t be able to share is a link to its website, as doing so would require the company to pay Apple a 27% commission on those sales, which the company does not intend to do. Instead, the text in the ap will only be able to refer users to Spotify’s website, without spelling out the domain name and its .com address. Spotify said Apple wouldn’t permit it to include the text “spotify.com” even if it wasn’t hyperlinked, to avoid paying commissions.
Along with the launch of the pricing information, Spotify will run a promotion in the EU to encourage users to upgrade their subscription plans via its website — information it’s always been able to show on Android without issues.
The current promotion will involve offering the first three months of the service for free before the subscription kicks in, Spotify says.
The move is a small step toward achieving Spotify’s agenda to service its own customers through its own commission-free payments platform. However, the streamer intends to keep fighting for what it actually wants: a way to link from its iOS app to its website for purchases without paying a commission to Apple.
“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,” the company wrote in a blog post announcing the changes. “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,” it said.
