Spotify To Sell Audiobooks, Subscriptions Avoiding Apple App Store Fees

Spotify, a well-known music streaming service, is making a bold move in Europe starting from March. This may also impact Indian users in the future.

Spotify plan to sell audiobooks and their own subscription plans right inside their app. This decision is important because it allows Spotify to avoid paying a 30% fee to Apple for every sale made through Apple’s App Store.

This fee has been a big issue for app makers like Spotify. They argue that it’s not fair and makes things costly for them. For instance, Spotify says it had to increase its monthly subscription price because of this fee. This news about avoiding the fee has made Spotify’s shares in the U.S. go up by about 2%.

The change is happening thanks to a new law in Europe called the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which starts on March 7. This law forces big tech companies to play fair and treat their own products the same as those from other companies. Spotify is happy about this, as it gives them more freedom.

Apple, on the other hand, doesn’t agree with this new European law. They want to challenge it. They are also trying to deal with a big lawsuit from over 1,500 app developers who are unhappy with Apple’s rules for the App Store. This lawsuit is about $1 billion.

Other big tech companies, like Meta Platforms led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, are also criticizing Apple’s App Store fees and policies. Zuckerberg thinks these rules are not fair and create conflicts. Meta is interested in supporting app developers and wants more competition in this area.

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Companies like Spotify and Meta are looking for more freedom and fair play, while Apple is defending its App Store rules. As these changes unfold, they could have a big impact on how we buy and use apps in the future.