APKMirror’s official Twitter account posted some sad news earlier today. Spotify issued a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown to the site. This was meant to target the variety of APKs that the site hosts which allow people to use Spotify in areas where it’s not yet available.
The takedown comes at a time when Spotify and Apple Music are engaged in a vicious rivalry. The streaming giant has already filed a formal antitrust complaint against Apple with EU regulators.
The video explains how Apple Music allegedly cripples Spotify by a forced 30% tax on subscriptions acquired through the iOS App store and also deliberately impedes Spotify’s attempts to promote their own app and offers.
We were very sad to see @Spotify DMCA their apps on @APKMirror today.@ArtemR reached out in hopes of a possible agreement to allow further distribution 🤞
— APK Mirror (@APKMirror) March 13, 2019
While it is understandable that Spotify has every right to protect their brand as they wish, many users across the world enjoy the service and support the app through APKs because Spotify is still not available in their country. For example, while it just came to India, Spotify is still not available in Pakistan, but people have both free and premium subscriptions through APKs.
Spotify is losing out on revenue by not allowing premium customers to use the app through APKs.
Of course, APKs do pose a problem for people who seek them out from unreliable sources and end up with glitches or viruses. APKMirror ensured safe and protected APK files so users wouldn’t get any hidden surprises.
While the US and major parts of the EU have ready access to Spotify, there are still parts of the world – especially in Asia – that rely on APK files for the app and will be sorry to see a safe source become unavailable.
For now, if you have an active installation of Spotify on your Android phone, we recommend keeping it installed.
Rizwan Anwar
Noor Imtiaz
