Spotify ignores iTunes contribution in stopping music piracy in a podcast

In a podcast discussing its history and protecting music artists from piracy, Spotify completely ignored Apple’s iTunes contribution. Verge spotted that the Swedish music streaming service proclaimed itself as the second digital platform to buy music, after Napster. Apple and Spotify do not have a cordial working relationship, and maybe that is the reason for excluding the Cupertino tech giant’s contribution in music streaming.

Broadcasted in episodes, Spotify’s podcast on its history includes discussions on how the business was established, technical details, and guest speakers like the inventor of Napster, Sean Parker, and Lars Ulrich from Metallica.

Spotify conveniently failed to mention iTunes as a music streaming platform

Although the podcast offers an interesting insight into the technical aspect of digital music streaming, it is rewriting the industry’s history. The Verge spotted that the “podcast presents music distribution as going from CD stores to Napster to Spotify” and failed to mention iTunes.

Apple and Spotify aren’t the best of friends, but it’s honestly somewhat hilarious to hear how the story completely ignores the fact that people could, in fact, buy digital music (an option that was around even before Spotify launched).

If talk about being easier than piracy sounds familiar, it’s probably because that was part of the pitch for the iTunes Music Store, too. It seems, for the most part, that iTunes and the iPod are pretty much completely ignored.

The Swedish music streaming service has been heavily investing in building its podcasts service. It has acquired big names like Joe Rogan, Gimlet Media, Parcast, and Anchor to attract listeners. Recent market research suggests that by the end of the year, it will grow by 41.3%  and consequently will have more podcast listeners than Apple Podcasts in the United States. Therefore, the narrative it is building is important.

In 2019, accusing Apple of anti-competitive behavior and creating an App Store monopoly, Spotify filed a complaint at the EU antitrust commission and now the commission has finalized its charge sheet against Apple which will be delivered to the company by the end of summer.