More equal than others. Google lets Spotify pay 0% commission
November 21, 11:16 Share:
Spotify doesn't pay Google fees (Photo: Christian Hartmann / Reuters)
Google reached an agreement with Spotify that allowed the streaming service to either avoid paying the commission entirely or pay the company 4% instead of 15%.
In the Epic Games lawsuit, Google's head of global partnerships, Don Harrison, confirmed that Spotify pays 0% commission when app users buy a subscription through Spotify's own system.. If users use Google's payment services, Spotify pays a 4% commission, which is significantly less than the standard rate of 15%.
According to The Verge, Harrison said that The « tailor-made deal» with Spotify was justified by the service's unprecedented popularity.
«If Spotify doesn't work properly on Play services and core services, people won't buy Android phones,» he said.
In a comment to The Verge, Google spokesman Dan Jackson noted that a number of developers have special terms of cooperation with the company.
«The small number of developers who invest more directly in Android and Play may have varying fees for services within the broader partnership. … These key investment partnerships allow us to bring more users to Android and Play while continually improving the experience for all users and creating new opportunities for all developers,” he said.
Let us remind you that earlier Spotify often complained about the commission of application store owners for purchases within the program. In mid-2023, the company completely stopped supporting the Apple App Store payment system to avoid paying commissions of up to 30%. Spotify was also one of the most prominent members of the Coalition for App Fairness group, which supported Epic Games' antitrust lawsuit against Apple and Google.
Read also: Prevaricating. Google provided false information and destroyed evidence in the Epic Games case — American court “Solve the issue”. Google offered Epic Games almost $150 million
Read about it in the new issue of NV, available here