Apple is bracing itself for another court battle this time against music streaming app Spotify. In filing a complaint with the European Commission, Spotify claims that it has been subjected to discriminatory practices by the maker of the iPhone. Bloomberg reports that the complaint has something to do with Spotify on the App Store.

Discriminatory and unfair practices

According to Horacio Gutierrez, Spotify’s general counsel, Apple is treating the music streaming app unfairly. As a direct competitor to its iTunes and Apple Music, Spotify believes that it is suppressing its opportunity to provide Apple customers with an alternative to its two music platforms.

A report by Engadget reveals that Spotify believes that Apple is singling it out because it is a direct competitor.

According to the streaming music app, the makers of the Mac computers modified its Apple Store rules to give itself a competitive advantage over its rivals. It claims several unfair practices which prompted it to lodge a complaint with the European Commission. One such issue is that Spotify products had been unfairly excluded from accessing Apple’s hardware services.

Another issue is that the Cupertino-based company has been charging a 30-percent tax on in-app purchases. Apple gives two options on charging the tax—let consumers handle the cost or refuse to pay the commission. The latter will result to different technical hurdles that Apple implements.

According to Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, the issue is not about Spotify vs Apple but rather about implementing fair rules for companies. Spotify also revealed that Apple broke its own company by launching different services.

Apple fights back

For its part, Apple says that it is not blocking the music streaming app because it is still not blocked from the App Store.

It would be easy for them to make changes to its policies but it has not. On the issue that the music streaming platform cannot make users subscribe to Premium services through the website or link to the website in the app, Apple says that it would open up opportunities for large scale fraud, hacking, and harassment.

Finally, the transactions fees at the App Store is part of a blanket rule.

It takes a 30-percent cut from all transactions as it is needed to run the store itself. In reality, subscription decreases to 15 percent after a year. The transaction fee is used for managing security, app review, hosting, distribution, and payment processing.
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