OCU demands that Apple return commissions on downloads of third-party streaming music apps

September 18 (Portaltic/EP) –

The Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) has filed a class action against Apple to force the brand to return the commissions applied to downloads of third-party music applications and has announced that it will sue the company for abuse of a dominant position in its app store.

The OCU He believes that “for years” the Cupertino company has taken advantage of the App Store to charge up to 30 percent more than the official price of third-party services, such as Spotify, YouTube, Deezer, SoundCloud or Amazon Music.

Its own streaming music platform, on the other hand, has not had to bear “at any time” additional fees, as it explained in a statement published on its website, where it said that with this Apple “further restricted competition.”

This is because it prevented other companies’ music streaming services from informing users about cheaper subscription options available outside the App Store – for example, direct subscriptions through websites.

According to OCU, as a result of Apple’s actions, iPhone and iPad users paid up to 30 percent more for non-Apple online music streaming subscriptions. Spotify thus increased the price of its monthly subscription. from 9.99 euros to 12.99 euros for iOS users, in order to cover Apple’s commissions.

Remembering that due to this practice the firm was sanctioned last March by the European Commission, with a fine of 1.8 billion eurosThe organisation has indicated that Euroconsumers and its members in Belgium, Portugal, Italy and Spain are taking the complaint “one step further” by demanding compensation for those affected.

With this class action, which has been announced through its #Playfair campaign, it is expected to recover around 62 million euros for more than 500,000 victims in the four countries, which means that these users They could be entitled to receive around 3 euros for each month that they paid extra.