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Spotify boss Daniel Ek has urged the UK government to use its freedoms outside the EU to set new rules to reduce the dominance of big tech companies.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Ek also said that the development of artificial intelligence will be “very important”, but he is worried that due to the speed of technological change, the regulations in place will soon be outdated.
“It’s evolving in very real time. What AI capabilities were six months ago will be different than what they will be a year or two years from now,” he said.
The Spotify co-founder and chief executive has been lobbying ministers in the UK over the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill, which is before parliament.
The bill will regulate competition in the digital market and formulate new rules to create a more level playing field between large technology groups and small startups. It would allow competition authorities to set behavioral requirements for large groups to respond to market forces and limit the potential for harm to consumers and competitors.
“The UK can now act with flexibility and show leadership,” Eck said, claiming Spotify was unfairly hampered by the status of digital platforms like Apple as gatekeepers to the internet. “The UK is now setting its own agenda (post-Brexit),” he said.
He added: “I think it’s crazy that two companies (Apple and Google) basically control how more than 4 billion consumers around the world access the Internet. Not only do they set the rules, but they compete directly with downstream providers.”
Eck said UK legislation needs to ensure that “if you want to be a referee, you cannot also be a participant in the digital market”.
“If we’re going to pass DMCC regulations, it needs to have real effect,” he said. He also called on EU lawmakers to pass similar legislation called the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and support the U.S. Open Application Markets Act.
Spotify, the dominant music streaming company, has drawn criticism in the past for overpaying artists and under-exposing lesser-known musicians.
Ek said the argument isn’t the cost of using the App Store, but that Apple dominates a large group of consumers, acting as a gatekeeper while also offering competing services.
“Imagine this is a shopping mall where literally half the UK population is,” he said, adding that businesses that compete directly with Apple are forced to pay commissions on in-app sales. “That’s where it becomes anti-competitive.”
“This applies to every developer,” he said. “More and more developers now see Apple as a competitor.”
After Spotify filed a complaint against Apple in 2019, the European Union launched an antitrust lawsuit against Apple.
In response to the latest developments in the case in February, Apple said it would “continue to work with the European Commission to understand and respond to their concerns while promoting competition and choice for European consumers.”
Apple declined to respond to Ek’s comments, saying at the time: “The App Store has helped Spotify become Europe’s top music streaming service, and we hope the European Commission ends its pursuit of baseless complaints.”
A government spokesman said the Digital Markets Bill would “set off a new wave of innovation” and provide the Competition and Markets Authority with “targeted new tools to ensure digital markets are as competitive and innovative as possible”.
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