But not without a fee

Streaming subscriptions soon also outside the App Store

The change follows years of dispute between Apple and Spotify.

(Bild: Spotify, Apple, stock.adobe.com, krone.at-Grafik)

Music streaming providers in the European Economic Area (EEA) will in future be allowed to direct their users to subscribe outside the Apple App Store. However, the iPhone company wants to charge a fee of up to 27 percent of the purchase price. The US company introduced the new option around a month after the EU Commission imposed a billion-euro competition fine, which was triggered by a complaint from rival Spotify.

At the same time, Apple emphasized at the weekend that the Commission's decision does not restrict the company from charging fees for the use of its technologies and services. Apple charges a fee of 30 percent in the first year for subscriptions within its own App Store. After that - and for smaller companies right from the start - the fee is 15 percent.

Fee decreases after one year
The new fee for links from music apps to external subscriptions is based on this: the fee drops to 12 percent after one year. Apple will only charge the fee if the links are used by users within a week to take out a subscription.

Spotify had expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that the service was not allowed to point out to users in its app where the subscription could be taken out on the web outside of Apple's download platform. In this case, Apple does not receive a fee - but the subscription offer can be used in the app after registration. Just like Netflix, for example, Spotify stopped offering a more expensive subscription option within the app years ago.

At the beginning of March, the EU Commission imposed a fine of 1.84 billion euros on Apple and called on the company to create options for redirecting users to an external subscription.

The year-long investigation related to competition in music streaming apps - and the decision therefore only applies to this market. Of the fine, only 40 million euros related to actual economic disadvantages for Spotify; the remaining 1.8 billion euros are intended "as a deterrent", according to the Commission. Apple has announced that it will appeal, but must still implement the Commission's requirements.