Yesterday there were two interesting news in the world of music streaming. The first is the main topic of this post and the second is that we have posted a few minutes ago, that Apple could be negotiating the purchase of Tidal. And it is that Spotify is has annoyed with Apple because, they say, in Cupertino have rejected the latest update of its application to harm them and benefit its own music streaming, Apple Music service.
In a letter he sent to Apple, Spotify says that they are causing a “ serious damage to Spotify and its customers” to reject your application update for iPhone. Also say that Apple has used control of iOS to eliminate his competition in music, raising the prices of other services and forbidding this competition told its clients that there is a way to pay less. But, is it true all that says Spotify?
Spotify aims to get clients from your iOS app
If we stopped the story here without hearing the other party, we might think that, in fact, Apple is a company despot who is only harm to companies that do the same thing to her. But the response from Apple did not expect and says that the intention of Spotify is use their iOS application to get new customers and sell subscriptions. In this sense, the App Store has the same rules for everyone and under the heading of payments we have the following:
3.1.1 shopping within the app: if want to unlock features or enhancements within your application (for example, subscriptions, coins of a game, a game, access to premium content or levels to unlock the full version), you must use the purchase within the application. Applications should not include buttons, links, or other summons directing the customer to a mechanism of different IAP […] purchase purchase
3.1.2. subscriptions: The autorenewal subscription should only be offered using the purchase within the application and should be used only for newspapers (such as magazines), business applications (such as enterprise, productivity, professional creation or cloud storage), multimedia applications (e.g. video, audio, voice, or share photos) and other approved services (e.g. dating, diets or meteorology) […].
Reading the previous standards, understand that the version of Apple also says that the Spotify application must be only to use the service, not to attract clients and sell subscriptions. To do all this should use their own means and not take advantage of the App Store. If it gets customers thanks to its app for iOS, you must pay 30% of the subscription or 15% from the first year.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, this news is the first of two that occurred yesterday, being the second to know that Apple could be negotiating to buy Tidal. Interestingly, Spotify complaint was unveiled just hours before the start to circulate the rumor of the interest of the Cupertino by Tidal, a music service that offers high quality sound and streaming has exclusive rights of many important artists such as Beyonce, that, even if it ends up putting his music on Apple Music This is a time only in Tidal, or Madonna.
Apple Music already is a service of music streaming that must be taken into account. In 12 months has achieved 15 million subscribers and that is something that has achieved thanks to the purchase of Beats (for Iovine contacts). In fact, iTunes Radio wasn’t far what is now Apple Music. If they buy a Tidal, Apple Music will win many integers and will offer even more exclusive material, what makes us think that the “tantrum” of Spotify is more because you feel threatened by having to pay somewhat per cent of the subscription of users that paying from the application for iOS. What do you think?
