Spotify announced on Wednesday it has filed a complaint with the European Union antitrust regulator over the unfair advantage Apple gives to its own music streaming service. The company claims that the Cupertino-based tech giant forces other music services to pay a 30% tax on purchases made through Apple's payment system, which in turn compels competitors to unjustly increase the price of their membership fees.
In a blog post, Spotify's CEO Daniel Ek argued that the App Store has in recent years "introduced rules [...] that purposely limit choice and stifle innovation at the expense of the user experience." He said that Apple "applies a series of technical and experience-limiting restrictions on Spotify" such as limiting its communication with customers and locking it out of Apple's services, including Siri and Apple Watch.
Apple's share gained 0.27% in premarket trading, to go for $180.40, whereas Spotify's stocks added 0.45%, to sell for $145.99.