Spotify’s European anti-trust fight with Apple ramped up a notch. It emerged that Apple claims the music streaming service only paid the so call ‘app tax’ on 0.5% of its paid subscribers.
‘App Tax’ Not Paid for Three Years
According to a document seen by industry publication Music Business Worldwide Spotify paid Apple a 15% revenue share on 680,000 customers between 2014 and 2016. That equates to 0.5% of its 100 million worldwide premium subscribers. Apple also argued that it received no commission on subscribers in the last three years.
Spotify ‘Just Want to Pay Nothing’
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has publicly complained about the 30% “app tax” it pays. This normally reduces to 15% after the first year. However, it is understood that it actually pays significantly less than that as a result of discounts from record labels. One source commented: “They just want to pay nothing.”