Spotify has filed a letter in Brussels claiming Apple is operating in an anticompetitive way by abusing its dominant market position. The letter was also signed by Deezer and Rocket Internet. It also takes aim at Google since both companies have allegedly become "gatekeepers" instead of "gateways."
In the letter, the chief executives write that this mismatch requires "specific rules guiding the interactions between platforms and their business users". Normally, a company abusing its dominant market position would be covered by competition law.
There's been a tense relationship between Spotify and Apple for quite some time. In 2016, Apple was criticized for rejecting a Spotify app update and Spotify dislikes Apple's 85/15 split for subscriptions. Apple defended itself by saying Spotify resorted to "rumors and half-truths."
Unlike in the US, there's actually a notable chance that EU regulators could move to control companies like Apple and Google further.
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