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US: Will buying Tidal help Apple fend off Spotify?

By  |  July 3, 2016

Apple may be looking to play both offense and defense in the highly competitive world of digital music.

The maker of iEverything is reportedly in talks to buy streaming music company Tidal, a service favored by many artists that is run by rap megastar (and Beyoncé hubby) Jay Z.

At the same time, rival music streaming service Spotify is said to be miffed at Apple for not agreeing to an update of the Spotify app in the App Store.

Recode reported that Spotify’s general counsel recently sent a harshly worded letter to Apple, accusing it of “causing grave harm to Spotify and its customers.”

According to the Recode report, Spotify also said in the letter that “Apple uses the App Store approval process as a weapon to harm competitors.”

Apple shot back, though. BuzzFeed reported Friday that Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell sent a rebuke to Spotify, arguing there was nothing it was doing that violated antitrust laws.

Sewell also pointed out that Spotify has “benefited enormously” from being part of the App Store, and that Apple was “disappointed with the public attacks.”

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