Spotify on Wednesday announced it filed an antitrust complaint against Apple with the European Commission over unfair App Store practices. Apple responded two days later, labeling the complaint as "misleading rhetoric" and arguing that "Spotify wants all the benefits of a free app without being free." The war of words has since continued. In a statement issued to Variety, Spotify said "every monopolist will suggest they have done nothing wrong" and that, consequently, Apple's response was "entirely in line" with its expectations. Spotify's statement: Every monopolist will suggest they have done nothing wrong and will argue that they have the best interests of competitors and consumers at heart. In that way, Apple's response to our complaint before the European Commission is not new and is entirely in line with our expectations. We filed our complaint because Apple's actions hurt competition and consumers, and are in clear violation of the law. This is evident in Apple's belief that Spotify's users on iOS are Apple customers and not Spotify customers, which goes to the very heart of the issue with Apple. We respect the process the European Commission must now undertake to conduct its review. See Spotify's Time to Play Fair website and Apple's Addressing Spotify's Claims press release for each company's stance.<doc-sep>The tit-for-tat war of words between Spotify and Apple continued today, with the former calling the latter a “monopolist,” and that its response to the lawsuit was “entirely in line with our expectations,” according to Variety. The statement is the latest in a highly public spat between the two companies. On Wednesday, Spotify filed a complaint with the European Union, alleging that Apple uses unfair practices in the App Store. Specifically, Spotify is upset at the 30 percent that Apple charges developers for subscriptions, and it says that it’s designed to give Apple Music an unfair advantage in the marketplace. Essentially, to match Apple’s price with its 30 percent cut, it can’t match the price of Apple Music, and it’s at the mercy of Apple’s technical restrictions. It also launched a website called Time to Play Fair, where it outlined its complaints against Apple. Apple pushed back on Spotify’s claims yesterday, saying that Spotify “wants all the benefits of a free app without being free,” that it conveniently left out that Apple’s 30 percent cut drops to 15 percent after a year, and that only a “tiny fraction” of subscribers sign up via the App store. In its latest statement, as seen by Variety, Spotify said that “every monopolist will suggest they have done nothing wrong and will argue that they have the best interests of competitors and consumers at heart,” and went on to reiterate that Apple’s policies hurt consumers. “This is evident in Apple’s belief that Spotify’s users on iOS are Apple customers and not Spotify customers, which goes to the very heart of the issue with Apple.” On Wednesday, the European Commission confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that it had received Spotify’s complaint, and that it was working to determine its next steps.<doc-sep>Spotify described Apple as a "monopolist" late Friday, dissecting the latter's reaction to a competition complaint Spotify submitted to the European Commission. "Every monopolist will suggest they have done nothing wrong and will argue that they have the best interests of competitors and consumers at heart," a Spotify representative told Variety. "In that way, Apple's response to our complaint before the European Commission is not new and is entirely in line with our expectations. "We filed our complaint because Apple's actions hurt competition and consumers, and are in clear violation of the law," the person continued. "This is evident in Apple's belief that Spotify's users on iOS are Apple customers and not Spotify customers, which goes to the very heart of the issue with Apple. We respect the process the European Commission must now undertake to conduct its review." Apple's statement, released earlier on Friday, claimed that Spotify is disguising "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," further attacking the Swedish service for joining Amazon, Google, and SiriusXM/Pandora in opposing higher royalty rates for songwriters. It barely touched on Spotify's main argument though, which is that Apple has constructed barriers making it hard for third-party services to compete. In the case of on-demand music, Apple takes a 30 percent cut from new in-app subscriptions, and 15 percent from those a over a year old. Apple Music doesn't have any such split, and is moreover integrated across Apple platforms in a way third parties aren't allowed — HomePod owners can't set Spotify as their default music service, for example. Apple's most direct response was suggesting that Spotify wants "all those benefits [of the App Store] while also retaining 100 percent of the revenue," pointing out that it supplies development resources, a platform, and a secure payment system.<doc-sep>On Wednesday, March 13th, Spotify filed a complaint with the European Commission over Apple’s business practices, saying that it used unfair tactics to suppress its competitors, something that it has alleged for several years. The fight between the two companies has become an escalating and highly-public war of words. Follow along for all of the latest updates as the fight plays out.<doc-sep>
Yesterday morning, Apple responded to Spotify’s aggressive PR campaign regarding its App Store policies. Now, Spotify has fired back at Apple yet again, this time calling the company a “monopolist” and saying its policies hurt consumers and competition. On Wednesday, Spotify filed a complaint with the European Commission about Apple and its App Store policies. Spotify says that Apple gives itself “an unfair advantage at every turn,” and takes issue with the 30 percent cut Apple takes of digital goods sold via iOS apps. To promote its claims about Apple, Spotify launched an entire website TimeToPlayFair.com, where it lays out its argument. Meanwhile, on Friday morning, Apple publicly responded to Spotify’s claims in a post on its Newsroom website. Apple says Spotify is engaging in “misleading rhetoric” and hiding the fact that most of its revenue from advertising and carrier deals, of which Apple takes no cut at all. Apple operated under the assumption Now, Spotify has shot back at Apple once again, saying in a statement to Variety that “every monopolist will argue they have done nothing wrong.” Spotify takes issue with Apple operating under the assumption that Spotify users on iOS are “Apple customers and not Spotify customers.” Ultimately, Spotify says that Apple’s response is “entirely in line” with what it expected from the company.” Here is Spotify’s full response to Apple: “Every monopolist will suggest they have done nothing wrong and will argue that they have the best interests of competitors and consumers at heart. In that way, Apple’s response to our complaint before the European Commission is not new and is entirely in line with our expectations. We filed our complaint because Apple’s actions hurt competition and consumers, and are in clear violation of the law. This is evident in Apple’s belief that Spotify’s users on iOS are Apple customers and not Spotify customers, which goes to the very heart of the issue with Apple. We respect the process the European Commission must now undertake to conduct its review.” Related stories: FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More. Subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news: