from Hacker News

EU Commission protects consumers in Apple music streaming case

by kuba-orlik on 3/6/24, 4:45 PM with 50 comments

• by rantee on 3/6/24, 5:37 PM

  Lost in all coverage of this battle of the middlemen is the effect on the artists actually making the product. How would lower prices make any difference in Spotify’s royalty rate bullying in a market saturated with alternatives that they already dominate? Are there really that many more consumers who want but aren’t already paying for a streaming service or using free alternatives? There are legit discussions to be had about app store policies, but I can’t see how the music streaming context is the place to have them.

• by granzymes on 3/6/24, 6:01 PM

  Hard to see what harm to competition there is in a market that has steadily grown, with Spotify at the top, during the entire period in which Apple was allegedly harming the market. Spotify doesn’t pay the Apple tax and yet charges the same as all the other market participants.

  Going to be very interesting to see what the EU courts say in a few years.

• by zx10rse on 3/6/24, 6:09 PM

  The conversation here is really degrading, when EU is mentioned. People down vote for the sake of down vote every opinion that is not in favor of EU, so they can silence it?

  It is really disappointing to see such behavior here on HN.