Why does it matter? Spotify wants the freedom to set their own margins. Compensating artists fairly starts by kicking out useless middlemen, and Apple plays that role in this instance. Every developer deserves the right to distribute software on their own terms, that's not some extremist or abhorrent ideal to advocate for.

> Compensating artists fairly starts by kicking out useless middlemen, and Apple plays that role in this instance.

Spotify needs the cooperation of the major record labels to operate and they have no interest in compensating artists fairly or kicking middlemen out of the process.

And it isn’t like Apple hasn’t tried using their weight before to fix market prices in their favor. See the debacle with eBooks.

Do they do it on Android or desktops? They’d have a much stronger moral case if they said that on every other platform they take the cut they’d give Apple and forward it to the artist instead.

I agree Spotify wants more revenue but I seriously doubt compensating artists is top of mind despite what their CEO says

They could be if they wanted, is the point. So it's harder to go after them for the fee.

Why aren’t they if they’re so upset about fees?

Are they actually so upset about fees?

Its only really in there to cover googles ass in a situation like this, it's not practical to get users to download your app elsewhere. Even fortnite couldn't really get people to do it.