Hoping for a Spotify App for Apple TV? Don’t Hold Your Breath

Hoping for a Spotify App for Apple TV? Don’t Hold Your Breath

If you’ve been hoping for a Spotify app for your Apple TV, don’t hold your breath, because blue isn’t your color! Spotify executive Samuel Erdtman has commented that a tvOS app for the music streaming service has been “down prioritized.”

Hoping for a Spotify App for Apple TV? Don't Hold Your Breath

Spotify GitHub page:

To support tvOS has been down prioritized, You should not expect a release supporting it any time soon. I´m sorry about that.

Erdtman’s comment was in reply to a user who asked if there will be a tvOS framework supporting Spotify, and when such an app might debut on Apple’s set top box.

The move likely doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has observed the continuing battle between Apple and the Apple Music archrival. The two companies have long been involved in a bitter spat over how Apple takes a 30% cut of the subscription fee pie for subs purchased via any iOS (and tvOS) app.

Recently, Apple changed its profit sharing requirements, taking a reduced 15% cut of the action after a subscriber has been with a service for one full year. That cut still sticks in Spotify’s craw. The service reacted to how Apple wets its beak by raising the price of any subscription purchased via the iOS app to cover Apple’s cut.

All is not lost, as Spotify for iOS does support AirPlay, so users can stream music from the app to their Apple TV, but a native tvOS app would be a much more elegant solution.

(Via iDownloadBlog)