Spotify: Spotify ends Apple in-app payment for Premium subscribers, here’s why – Times of India

Spotify and Apple have had a history of disputes and tensions, particularly regarding Apple’s App Store policies. Now, it has been seven years since Spotify has prohibited users to sign up for its Premium subscription through the Apple App Store.
According to a report by Variety, Spotify will no longer allow customers who previously subscribed to its streaming music service through the App Store to continue to pay using Apple’s platform. The audio streaming platform has started sending emails to users who pay using an App Store subscription to let them know that they’ll need to make changes to the payment method.
What Spotify has to say
Spotify, in a recent email, told its subscribers, “We’re contacting you because when you joined Spotify Premium you used Apple’s billing service to subscribe. Unfortunately, we no longer accept that billing method as a form of payment.”
The email notification says, at the end of the billing period, their account will “automatically switch to our Free, ad-supported service… If you wish to keep your Premium subscription, you will need to re-subscribe after your last billing period has ended and your account has been moved on to the Free account.” In order to start a new subscription, subscribers will have to pay via one of the payment methods Spotify accepts, which includes credit cards and PayPal.
Spotify executive, in a statement, said the company began notifying “a small number of users that a legacy payment method, that their Premium account is attached to, is being deprecated. Users notified by email will automatically move to a Free account from their next billing cycle. Users will then have the option to upgrade to a Premium account by logging into their account at Spotify.com.”
“These actions will help ensure that we can continue to provide a consistent best-in-class subscription experience for all our users,” the spokesperson added
Spotify’s feud with Apple
In the past, Spotify accused Apple of anti-competitive behaviour, claiming that Apple favoured its own music streaming app — Apple Music — over Spotify in the Apple App Store.
In 2019, Spotify filed a complaint with the European Commission, claiming that Apple’s App Store rules violated EU competition laws. Apple, in its regulatory filing, stated that it collected a 15% fee on subscription payments for just 680,000 of Spotify’s over 100 million Premium subscribers.
Spotify also objected to Google’s Play Store policies, which also take a percentage fee of purchases. Last year, Spotify and Google announced a multiyear agreement that will give Spotify users, running Android operating systems, to pay with either Spotify’s payment system or with Google Play Billing.