Spotify boss urges UK to enact tougher regulation of tech gatekeepers

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Spotify boss Daniel Ek has urged the UK government to use its freedom outside the EU to introduce new rules that would reduce the dominance of big tech companies.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Ek also said that development of artificial intelligence would be “super important” but raised concerns that regulations made now would quickly become obsolete because of the speed at which the technology was changing.

“It’s very much developing in real time. AI capabilities six months ago are not going to be the same as they are in a year or two years from now,” he said.

The Spotify co-founder and chief executive has been in the UK to lobby ministers about the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill, which is being considered in parliament.

The bill will regulate competition in digital markets, with new rules to create a more level playing field between large tech groups and smaller start-ups. It will allow competition authorities to set conduct requirements for big groups to address market power and limit the potential for harm to consumers and rivals.

Ek said that “the UK can be nimble right now and show leadership”, claiming that Spotify was being unfairly held back by digital platforms such as Apple because of their position as internet gatekeepers. “The UK is now setting its own agenda [after Brexit],” he said.

He added: “I find it insane that two companies [Apple and Google] essentially control how over 4bn consumers access the internet around the world. Not only are they dictating the rules, they also compete directly downstream with those providers.”

Ek said the UK legislation needed to ensure that “if you want to be the referee you can’t also be the player” in the digital market.

“If we’re going to pass the DMCC regulation, it needs to have real teeth,” he said. He is also calling on EU lawmakers to pass similar legislation called the Digital Markets Act (DMA), and backed the Open App Markets Act in the US.

As the dominant music streaming company, Spotify has attracted criticism in the past for how much artists are paid and the underexposure of lesser-known musicians.

Ek said the debate was not about the cost of using the App Store but that Apple was so dominant for a large group of consumers, functioning as a gatekeeper while also offering competing services.

“Imagine that this was a mall and literally half of the UK population is in this mall,” he said, adding that businesses competing directly with Apple were forced to pay commission on in-app sales. “That’s where it becomes anti-competitive.”

“This is for every single developer,” he said. “More and more of these developers are now finding that Apple is a competitor.”

The EU has launched an antitrust case against Apple after Spotify made a complaint against it in 2019.

In response to an update on the case in February this year, Apple said it would “continue to work with the European Commission to understand and respond to their concerns, all the while promoting competition and choice for European consumers”.

Apple, which declined to respond to Ek’s comments, said at the time: “The App Store has helped Spotify become the top music streaming service across Europe and we hope the European Commission will end its pursuit of a complaint that has no merit.”

A government spokesperson said the digital markets bill would “unleash a new wave of innovation” as well as give the Competition and Markets Authority “targeted new tools to make sure digital markets are as competitive and innovative as possible”.