iPhone users can soon ask Siri to play music from Spotify: Report

Google’s Assistant and Amazon Alexa already support Spotify.

iPhone users may soon tell Siri to play Spotify (REUTERS)

San Francisco, Aug 15 (IANS) Swedish music streaming service Spotify is reportedly in a truce with Apple to let iPhone users tell voice assistant Siri to play songs, playlists and albums.

According to a report in The Information on Wednesday, the talks come amid a growing anti-trust battle between the two companies. Google's Assistant and Amazon Alexa work with Spotify but Siri does not.

Swedish music streaming app Spotify now has 232 million monthly active users (MAUs) globally, a 29 per cent increase year-on-year (YoY), along with 108 million premium subscribers which is also 31 per cent (YoY) growth.

In comparison, Apple Music last reported 60 million paid subscribers in June.

Spotify and Apple are in legal tussle, with Cupertino-based tech iPhone maker saying that Spotify is not paying 30 per cent 'Apple tax' on its subscriptions via App Store as claimed but even less than 1 per cent of paid subscribers.

In March, Spotify filed an anti-trust complaint against Apple with the European Commission.

The tug of war between Spotify and Apple has intensified, with the Swedish music streaming service calling Apple a "monopolist".

The European Union (EU) is investigating Spotify's allegations, accusing Apple of unfairly hindering its rivals and favouring Apple Music through its App Store policies.

In its complaint with the EU, Spotify said that Apple requires it and other digital services to pay a 30 per cent tax on purchases made through Apple's payment system, including upgrading from a free to premium subscription.

Apple replied, saying its revenue share is 30 per cent only for the first year of an annual subscription. It drops to 15 per cent in the years after.

"The only contribution that Apple requires is for digital goods and services that are purchased inside the app using our secure in-app purchase system," Apple added.

The Cupertino, California-headquartered tech giant also alleged that Spotify was trying to squeeze the artists, musicians and songwriters, not just the App Store.