Spotify says Apple is making it harder to sell audiobooks, a product Spotify just launched last month. The company called Apple’s practices anti-competitive and said it was killing competition in a blog post ahead of the company’s earnings report on Tuesday.
Spotify said Apple’s rules made the process of buying audiobooks on Spotify overly complicated and confusing, adding that Apple arbitrarily changed its rules to make them unexplainable. Apple charges up to 30% commission on purchases of apps listed on the App Store and prohibits certain developers from using or directing users to external payment processors.
As outlined on Spotify’s dedicated webpage to support its cause, the company said Apple had rejected its proposed audiobook purchase process three times, saying it violated App Store policies. To comply with Apple’s rules, Spotify hid the prices of its audiobooks and didn’t let users buy content in the app. Instead, consumers choose the books they want to buy, and Spotify emails them a link to view them online.
This makes it harder to compare prices, which people can only learn about via email. Spotify said the process not only hurt consumers but this time also authors and publishers, who now find themselves suppressed by Apple.
This isn’t the first time Spotify has challenged Apple. In 2019, the music streaming company filed an antitrust complaint against Apple in Europe, saying the company hurt consumer choice by imposing a 30 percent “Apple tax.”
“Without government intervention — in Europe, the U.S., or any other market in the world — Apple has shown time and time again that it doesn’t self-regulate and has no real incentive to change,” Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said in a statement today. “With the launch of our audiobooks, Apple has once again demonstrated just how brazen it is with its App Store rules, constantly shifting the bar to disadvantage its competitors,” said the report.
While Spotify could make buying audiobooks easier by using Apple’s in-app purchase system, that would subject each purchase to the up to 30% commission Apple charges. It will also make it harder for Spotify to compete with Apple Books. Apple did not immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.
