[shuckles]

This is a weird argument. Apple released a functionally comparable product to Spotify with about $2b of investment in Beats. Only one company on the planet has been able to create a functionally comparable product to iPhone, and that’s stretching the definition and required huge expense.

It’s pretty clear that Spotify’s value add to Apple is tiny while the reverse is much larger.

Spotify wouldn’t have a business in the counter-factual world where they were never allowed in App Store, while Apple Music would clearly exist. Their business model innovation was fairly limited; streaming music services began in the late 90s.