U.S. senator backs FTC investigation into Apple Music

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Franken wants Apple investigated.
Photo: Al Franken

It was inevitable that the success of Apple Music was going to have some people screaming about anti-competitive practices, and that’s exactly what happened. Yesterday, senator (and former SNL alumni) Al Franken threw his hat into the ring by writing a letter requesting that the Justice Department take the matter seriously.

Franken’s letter (which you can read here) takes issue with the fact that Apple is potentially hurting competitors like Spotify and Rdio by charging them 30 percent extra fees for subscriptions gained through the App Store.

Because of this, Spotify charges customers $13 per month within its iOS app, but only $10 per month if they sign up on the Web. Since Apple bans app which link to “external mechanisms for purchases or subscriptions” the company is unable to spread the word about the cheaper subscription price — although it recently tried to do this by sending out a mass email to all its iOS subscribers.

Apple, meanwhile, charges a flat rate of $10 per month for Apple Music, which makes its service appear cheaper. Franken writes that this could, “undermine the competitive process, to the detriment of consumers.”

Personally, I think if companies are going to sell their products through Apple, they should be subject to whatever terms and conditions Apple wants to set. But then that’s not always how these antitrust cases are judged — which Apple knows all too well.

Someone should tell Franken that the FTC anti-competitive investigation is already happening, too.

Source: The Verge

 

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