Spotify secures special deal with Google, bypassing Play Store fees

In the ongoing Epic v. Google trial in San Francisco, details emerged of a special deal between Spotify and Google, enabling the music streaming giant to avoid Play Store fees.

Spotify's agreement with Google permits the use of its payment system on Android, allowing the streaming service to pay no commission to Google when users sign up for subscriptions.

Additionally, if users opt for Spotify through the Google Play Store, the commission is set at just four percent, significantly lower than the standard 15 percent for most apps.

According to court testimony, Don Harrison, Google's partnerships head, stated, "Listening to music is one of [the phone’s] core purposes… if we don’t have Spotify working properly across Play services and core services, people will not buy Android phones." As part of the deal, both companies agreed to contribute $50 million each to a "success fund."

The revelations came in the context of a lawsuit initiated by Epic Games against Google, which alleged that the Play Store was an illegal monopoly that charged app developers high fees for in-app purchases. Google defended the special agreement, arguing that "these key investment partnerships allow us to bring more users to Android and Play by continuously improving the experience for all users and create new opportunities for all developers.”