Apple Music took quite a bit of the news cycle ever since its debut back in June, but not all of it has been in the best light.
Now, Senator Al Franken is putting Apple’s music streaming service back in the spotlight as he seeks an investigation into what he believes could be anti-competitive behaviors on Apple’s part within the music streaming market. Specifically, Franken is talking about the 30 percent cut that Apple takes from subscription services, like Spotify, which means that these services need to charge more for their subscription services through Apple’s App Store to match what they charge outside of it. As Spotify has complained in the past, this means that the streaming service has to charge $12.99 within the App Store, compared to the standard $9.99 it charges outside of it.
To compare, Apple obviously doesn’t have that same “Apple tax,” so a customer that doesn’t want to pay more than $9.99 per month could opt for Apple Music rather than Spotify (or other streaming services) that have to charge more — and don’t want to subscribe outside of the App Store.
Of course, the FTC is already investigating Apple for these same issues, so it’s unlikely that Franken’s own comments will make a big difference right now. However, as The Verge notes, comments from Congressional members could lead to more actions on the FTC’s part later down the road.
[via The Verge]
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