Spotify says Apple won’t approve a new version of its app because it doesn’t want competition for Apple Music

Spotify says Apple is making it harder for the streaming music company to compete by blocking a new version of its iPhone app. In a letter sent to Apple’s top lawyer, Spotify says Apple is “causing grave harm to Spotify and its customers” by rejecting an update to Spotify’s iOS app. The letter says Apple turned down a new version of the app while citing “business model rules” and demanded that Spotify use Apple’s billing system if “Spotify wants to use the app to acquire new customers and sell subscriptions.”

The letter, sent by Spotify general counsel Horacio Gutierrez to Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell on June 26, suggests that Spotify intends to use the standoff as ammunition in its fight over Apple’s rules governing subscription services that use its App store. “This latest episode raises serious concerns under both US and EU competition law,” Gutierrez wrote.