Spotify Rolls Out Payment Options With Google

Spotify and Google have begun testing user choice billing (UCB), a tool that lets users of the audio streaming platform subscribe and make purchases with their chosen payment option.

Announced in March, Spotify said UCB is a first-of-its-kind in-app purchase offering for Android devices. It’s now being tested in select markets, the company said on its website.

“Going forward, Android users will soon be able to choose how to pay for their Spotify subscription in the way that best suits them,” the announcement said.

On its website, Google said the partnership is part of its larger expansion of UCB, and that the company is also working with dating app Bumble.

“Our goal is to understand complexities involved in supporting user choice billing for developers and users in countries across the world while maintaining a safe and positive user experience,” Google said.

“This pilot allows us to test and iterate on different implementations, and gather insights from developers and users on their experience to determine how this pilot might evolve,” Google added.

This news comes a little more than two months after Google began piloting UCB in Europe, Japan, Indonesia, India and Australia to allow developers of non-gaming Android apps to test payment alternatives.

The roll-out gave developers a 4% discount on the typical 15% to 30% service fee charged by Google when users opt to use a third-party billing option. App developers who go that route will then have to deal with customer billing disputes.

“Android has always been a uniquely open operating system, and we continue to evolve our platform and increase the choices available to developers and users while maintaining our ability to invest in the ecosystem,” a Google spokesperson said.

As PYMNTS noted earlier this year, Google had been looking to make changes and appease developers and regulators ahead of legislation that would require Big Tech companies to offer more payment options.

The Silicon Valley search giant proposed a settlement in July that would establish a $90 million fund to support American developers who earned $2 million or less through Google Play each year from 2016 to 2021.