You’re saying you get value out of Spotify’s services. That’s good. Middlemen exist because they’re providing some value. Doesn’t make them not middlemen though.
Ultimately, if I use Spotify to discover an artist, I’m going to continue paying Spotify to listen to that artist and the artist themselves will be lucky to even make pennies off of that. I could move off Spotify and keep listening to that artist pretty easily, I just probably won’t. Spotify is a middleman focused on discovery but isn’t providing ongoing value to the artist once the viewer has discovered them.
Apple on the other hand is building and maintaining the platform that app creators use. This is a lot more tha discovery, the app wouldn’t even exist without the platform, and Apple keeps adding more value to the platform over time. Apple is not a middleman.
Spotify would and does exist on all the other platforms, like Android, Windows or the open web.
Apple created a lot of value with its first iPhone, but the world evolved since then.
And yes, in your definition, Apple too is a middleman, because a big reason for why many people buy overpriced smartphones is to use apps. That you can't move those purchases easily to another platform, that's the lock-in effect of Apple's walled garden, but that doesn't make them any less of a middleman.
Speaking of pennies, I emphasize, but how much are artists getting paid by Apple Music? Isn't this hypocrisy on their part? This whole thing is infuriating because Apple can easily undercut its competition because they don't have to pay the 30% store tax.
This is anti-competitive behavior and yes, I realize that Apple does not have a monopoly, but I think anti-trust laws should be rewritten, because this kind of behavior isn't acceptable coming from the world's richest software company, due to the infinite potential they have for harming the market.
> That you can't move those purchases easily to another platform
You do realise that there are technical reasons for that.
You can't just lift an iOS, Linux, Windows, Android, PS4, Xbox etc app and just run it on a different platform. Especially if your target platform is a resource constrained one.
Indeed, however there is no technical reason why devices couldn’t be built so apps could be lift and shifted verbatim. We already have examples of cross platform frameworks that can target desktops as well as mobile devices. We have an understanding of how to reflow our content for different screen sizes, orientations, aspect ratios, and even (albeit less successfully) DPI. We also have platforms were code has to support different horsepower (eg games written for the Nintendo Switch between docked and undocked mode). So we understand the theory and I’m sure most developers would welcome such a change too. But there is absolutely no incentive for hardware manufacturers to do this (and I can’t blame them either).
To be honest though, I’m less concerned about app portability as I am about retaining ownership of apps after their or the app stores support has ended. While this doesn’t really matter for mobile apps nor music streaming services, it’s something that really concern me with regards to collecting retro games. There is a lot to be said for owning physical media. But I’ve digressed.
Linux apps are easily ported to other platforms and this is because the Linux kernel has an easy to port interface and all the GUI toolkits, along with the X Window subsystem are open source and have been ported already.
For example I use Gimp and Inkscape, irregardless of the OS. The experience is a little shitty on MacOS, but they get the job done.
It's also the reason for why Microsoft was able to provide the "Subsystem for Linux" on Windows 10, because the Linux kernel is much easier to mock than Windows is, being a much smaller effort than what the Wine project has to handle. Speaking of Wine, it has been doing a decent job of running Windows apps on Linux, many Windows-only games are playable on Linux due to it. And Steam has been using Wine to make games available on Linux.
iOS on the other hand is another matter entirely. First of all you don't have direct access to the binaries, without hacking the OS and Apple is doing everything they can to make that OS unhackable.
No, we are not talking of technical limitations, as those aren't insurmountable.
That definition of a middleman is pretty useless. According to you Apple is a middle-man because they just provide access to apps and web pages which you really want to use. Google search is a middle man because you just use them to access websites you really care about. Walmart is a middle man because they only connect the producers of consumer goods to consumers.
Everything ultimately leans on suppliers so if that's your definition everything is a middle man unless you farm crops or dig up ore or something.
I'm confused as to what it is that Apple Music does that Spotify doesnt? You say that Spotify is a middleman but never once comment that Apple Music is also by your own definition a middle man.
Also the title Middle Man has a sort of negative conotation to it. But Spotify/Apple Music is simply a platform that can connect a artist to a listener. But this doesnt make them any more of a middleman then Netflix or the guy at Mcdonalds who cooks your Cheeseburger.
Ultimately, if I use Spotify to discover an artist, I’m going to continue paying Spotify to listen to that artist and the artist themselves will be lucky to even make pennies off of that. I could move off Spotify and keep listening to that artist pretty easily, I just probably won’t. Spotify is a middleman focused on discovery but isn’t providing ongoing value to the artist once the viewer has discovered them.
Apple on the other hand is building and maintaining the platform that app creators use. This is a lot more tha discovery, the app wouldn’t even exist without the platform, and Apple keeps adding more value to the platform over time. Apple is not a middleman.