EU set to launch a formal probe on Apple Music over Spotify's competition criticism

Back in March, music-streaming giant, Spotify launched 'It’s time to play fair' campaign where the company laid out reasons that revealed how Apple wasn't allowing competitors a fair.Like most services, Apple obligates Spotify to pay a 30 percent cut in order to use in-app purchases when signing up new subscribers. Spotify, therefore, wanted the EU to probe Apple Music in relation to how Apple treats its competitors when compared its own businesses.Spotify’s campaign now appears to be finally bearing fruit. According to a report by Financial Times, the European Union is set to launch a formal antitrust probe into Apple's conduct over Apple Music and Spotify.[caption id="attachment_6212181" align="alignnone" width="1024"]

Spotify. Reuters[/caption]Both companies are yet to comment on the report. However, Apple has already rejected Spotify's implications stating that Spotify was driven by "financial motivations" and wanted to benefit from the App Store's infrastructure without contributing to it.

Apple also went ahead and rejected notions that it was privileging Apple Music on a software level, going so far as to say it was talking to Spotify about AirPlay and Siri integrations.From what we've seen with EU probers, these formal investigations can take years to complete, so it is quite unlikely that we'll know anything for some time.