Spotify and Deezer accuse Apple of anti-competitive practices
![Spotify and Deezer accuse Apple of anti-competitive practices](https://images.thebrag.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=cover,width=1200,height=800,format=auto/https://images-r2.thebrag.com/tmn/uploads/2017/12/Screen-shot-2017-12-14-at-3.17.43-PM.jpg)
Mirroring the East Coast/West Coast hip hop battles of the mid ’90s, Spotify and Deezer have teamed up against Apple, asking EU regulators to halt what they claim are anti-competitive practices.
Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek and Deezer chief executive Hans-Holger Albrecht lead a team of companies who sent a letter to The European Commission urging for “a level playing field” by quashing practices by those companies who are “regularly abusing their advantaged position.”
The rub is that Apple takes a 30% cut when people subscribe to Spotify and Deezer through Apple’s App Store, despite also offering a competing service.
The letter argues the current legislation “will not ensure platforms act as gateways rather than become gatekeepers to the digital economy.”
The European Commission fined Google a whopping €2.4 billion for burying its competitors in Google searches (which is, admittedly, a fairly baller move) so it’ll be interesting to watch this play out.
This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.