DANIEL EK: I launched Spotify in the UK 15 years ago. But I fear I couldn’t do that today because Apple is a barrier to innovation

As the founder of Spotify, a company that launched here in the UK fifteen years ago this month, I’m often asked about our ‘journey’ – and it’s been an interesting one.

I distinctly remember sitting in our makeshift office in London when we first launched and the first data coming in showed that listeners couldn’t get enough of British artist Coldplay.

Just months later, the band became the first UK artists to reach over 1 million monthly streams. Today, the love for British exports has only grown.

Two of the three most streamed songs in the world are by British artists: Ed Sheeran (Shape of You) and Lewis Capaldi (Someone You Loved), who have a combined 6 billion streams.

The digital landscape has also changed since Spotify was founded. On the one hand, it was an incredibly positive force.

Although there are more startups than ever, there is also more competition from the big players.

This increase in competition is good for everyone and serves as a stimulus for innovation, forcing every company to continually improve our offerings and grow our edge – all for the benefit of consumers.

However, a fundamental shift has changed the digital arena: power has become concentrated in the hands of a select few – especially on mobile, the main way most people access the internet.

This shift undermines the Internet’s original promise to be an open, democratic platform.

Today, Apple and Google are not just players, but also the rule makers and gatekeepers of the mobile Internet, determining how more than five billion consumers worldwide interact online.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. There is a solution working its way through Westminster that could change the trajectory of a country I have long admired.

This UK bill, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (DMCC), would redefine how businesses can compete, grow and prosper on the internet – cementing Britain’s status as a hub for innovation and a breeding ground for technology is strengthened.

The bill ensures that companies like Apple will have to compete fairly for customer business. It will give consumers more choice, give smaller tech companies the chance to grow and compete with bigger players, and make Britain a leading tech marketplace.

Despite this, some of the companies that would be most affected by this bill, including Apple, have criticized the Digital Markets Bill as anti-innovation, implying that this will somehow undermine business and investment in Britain harm.

To no one’s surprise, these companies are aggressively fighting this action.

In fact, the Prime Minister has faced intense lobbying from Apple to quash or water down the bill, effectively rendering it ineffective.

This gives them a free pass and means the status quo continues at the expense of everyone else. But when has competition, and giving British companies a fair chance, been bad for business? It’s always been the opposite.

Apple is both the architect of the iOS “ecosystem” and its largest inhabitant. T

The company charges an excessive 30 percent tax and imposes bans on developers, many of whom helped build iOS into what it is today.

And Apple increasingly views these developers as among its biggest challengers.

Instead of letting consumers decide which company wins, Apple has taken away their choice by prioritizing its own services while the company tries to increase its profits.

The vibrant marketplace of today’s Internet has created the right environment for the birth of many digital businesses.

But the real obstacles emerge when founders look to grow their new venture and build their customer base.

Today’s mobile environment is a far cry from the more open and level playing field that existed when I started building businesses.

I also wonder if launching a venture like Spotify would even be feasible today. My guess is no.

We believe that when competition is fair, everyone wins: consumers, businesses and the country.

That’s why it’s vital that the Government passes a strong bill giving consumers more choice and control over their digital lives, and that’s why we urge Britain to show leadership in this area.

Britain stands out because it has a rare combination of significant global influence while being independent enough to be agile. This is a unique advantage. Britain is an epicenter for business and has produced many of the greatest thinkers and pioneers the world has ever seen.

Other global governments have tried to enact regulations, such as the DMCC, but Apple has spent millions lobbying in country after country to prevent those laws from taking effect.

If Parliament passes a robust version of the Digital Markets Bill, Apple will no longer be able to use its market power at the expense of British innovators.

There is no room to wait for someone else to solve this problem; And if you expect these big tech companies to take action and just do the right thing, that’s not going to happen.

While Apple has long been unwilling to share a detailed breakdown of its App Store profits, all indications are that the company has generated at least $100 billion thanks to the hefty 30 percent tax it imposes on innovators here in Great Britain. Britain and beyond. world.

How many more startups would have succeeded and grown into successful companies if Apple hadn’t extracted this rent and reaped enormous rewards at the expense of the broader tech economy?

This is not a complicated issue and our questions to Apple are simple.

1) Abolish taxes and play fair. Spotify has to pay 30 percent for every new subscriber who wants to sign up through the App Store, something that Apple’s music service does not have to pay, making it impossible for us to compete on price. And at every turn, Apple biases its own service.

2) Alternatively, we can also allow other app stores or alternative download methods, which already exist on Apple computers where we are not held hostage by that 30 percent fee. Offering other payment methods would make the market truly competitive.

3) Let Spotify communicate with our customers in our app about cheaper alternatives, important updates or new deals they can take advantage of.

So while this all probably feels very simple and in the best interests of consumers and local businesses, Apple is unwilling to consider even the most fundamental changes because it fears losing lucrative profits, its stranglehold over British technology economy and its hold on the British economy. biggest competitors.

I know Britain has many priorities, chief among them being a great home for innovation.

So while there are many ideas under consideration, the Digital Markets Bill has the promise of being one of the most powerful tools Britain can offer its growing technology industry.

It also gives Britain the strength to maintain its status as a technological pioneer and inspire others around the world. It’s not “anti-tech,” and it’s not even “anti-Big Tech.”

The Digital Markets Bill is good for consumers, good for business and good for Britain, and it is time these ideals prevailed.