European Commission charges Apple with antitrust violations in music-streaming market

The European Commission on Friday announced it has charged Apple and the App Store with antitrust violations in the music-streaming market. In its Statement of Objections, the commission states the company "distorted competition in the music streaming market as it abused its dominant position for the distribution of music streaming apps." The charge concerns mandatory use of an in-app purchase mechanism that Apple imposes on other music-streaming developers in order to distribute their apps via the App Store. Through this mandatory mechanism, Apple charges competing music-streaming developers a 30 percent commission fee on all subscriptions they receive.