Spotify recently launched a new original podcast on its own history, which provides details on not only how the platform was created, but also provides an overview of the music industry. Although the first two episodes talk about the challenges in combating music piracy in the digital age, Apple’s iTunes was completely ignored by Spotify in the podcast.
As noted by The edge, the podcast features some interesting interviews, which include a conversation with Napster creator Sean Parker and Metallica’s Lars Ulrich. The founders of Spotify talked about how music piracy at the time encouraged the development of Spotify, because they wanted to offer the “convenience of pirate music”, but as something legal.
However, iTunes is not even mentioned in the podcast while talking about piracy. It’s impossible to ignore how the iPod and iTunes Music Store were necessary to reduce piracy on digital music because it made it easier for customers to buy original songs, but Spotify says in its story that the distribution of music from ‘CD stores to Napster went to Spotify ‘.
If talking about being easier than piracy sounds familiar, it’s probably also because it’s part of the iTunes Music Store. It seems that iTunes and the iPod are for the most part completely ignored. The podcast offers music distribution from CD stores to Napster to Spotify. Apple and Spotify are not best friends, but it’s honestly somewhat hilarious to hear the story completely ignore the fact that people could actually buy digital music (an option that existed even before Spotify was launched).
This may be related to the fact that Apple and Spotify do not have a good relationship. Spotify often accuses Apple of being a monopoly, as the company requires other streaming services available for iPhone and iPad to pay a 30% commission for subscriptions, which Apple itself does not have to pay for Apple Music.
If you are curious to know more about the history of Spotify, check out the podcast “Spotify: A Product Story” – which is of course available exclusively on Spotify.
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