Google and Spotify’s Secret Deal: What’s Got Other Developers Fuming?

Google and Epic Games are battling it out in court this week, and details emerging from the case have shed more light on how Google has operated the market over the years.

The company has made selective deals with Apple to push its search engine into iPhones for billions and even paid Samsung to have its apps as the default on Galaxy devices. The latest revelation in this case is another secret deal Google has with music streaming platform Spotify, which has offered a free subscription business, as outlined in this report.

Such offers are sure to enrage other developers who have to pay up to 30 percent premium to host their apps on the Play Store. Don Harrison, Google’s head of global partnerships, has confirmed the details of the secret deal while testifying in the case. He said Spotify pays a 0 percent commission on all orders placed through its own systems.

But the bigger thing is that the music platform only charges 4 percent when people pay for the service using Google’s system. By comparison, most developers have to pay Google a 15 percent fee. So why is Spotify getting a special offer from Google? Harrison said Google felt the deal was “justified” because of the platform’s popularity and it made sense to keep Spotify in the good books and the Play Store with such a deal.

But it looks like Spotify isn’t Google’s only benefactor, at least based on the information shared during the week-long trial. The company had offered Netflix a similar deal, but with a 10 percent commission, which the video platform didn’t accept, which is why people use its website to pay for the service.

Such examples do not help Google’s case in these hearings, where its anti-competitive nature has become apparent. It’s unlikely that the company will have an easy time with regulators, but at least we’ll get to know how the giant has been running its business between different divisions.