A new report claims that Apple has lashed out at music streaming giant Spotify over its long-running competition complaint filed with the EU, which could reportedly soon see Apple facing a huge fine.

Following reports the EU has concluded its investigation into Spotify’s claims of anti-competitive behavior by Apple over its App Store rules – and is ready to issue a 500 million euro fine – the iPhone maker has accused the music firm of trying to get “limitless” access to Apple’s tools without paying for any of it.

Spotify filed a complaint with the EU in 2019, claiming that Apple’s App Store rules limit choice and competition because it charges a 30% fee on purchases made through the store – including music streaming subscriptions – which Spotify claims is an unfair “tax”, and that Apple’s own competing Apple Music streaming service is not subject to the same fees, giving it an unfair advantage.

According to reports earlier this week, the European Commission is close to concluding its investigation and Apple was said to be facing a 500 million euro fine.

In a statement issued on Thursday night in response to the reports, Apple stated that Spotify did not offer subscriptions via the App Store and therefore did not pay Apple any commission in the EU.

“We’re happy to support the success of all developers — including Spotify, which is the largest music streaming app in the world,” Apple said.

"Spotify pays Apple nothing for the services that have helped them build, update and share their app with Apple users in 160 countries spanning the globe.  Fundamentally, their complaint is about trying to get limitless access to all of Apple’s tools without paying anything for the value Apple provides."

Apple added that Spotify had the option to directly link to their website for account creation and management, but chose not to use it, and that despite its claims of competition concerns and not allowing it to tell users how to subscribe, had grown into the largest digital music business in the world with more than 50% market share in Europe.

The US company also argued that Spotify and other music streaming services had many open channels, including email marketing and social media, to advertise to consumers and show them how to sign up outside of the App Store.

Apple also criticized EU regulators, claiming that despite being examined in different forms on this issue for around a decade, the European Commission had failed to find any evidence of consumer harm or anti-competitive behavior by the firm in this market. 

The iPhone maker said the investigation could just cement Spotify’s dominant position as the market leader, rather than promote competition. For more on this read the full report.