Apple’s new streaming music service costs $10 per month. So does competing service Spotify, but if you subscribe through the Spotify iPhone app, they charge you an extra three bucks because of Apple’s 30% cut of every subscription sold through apps on their devices. However, Apple’s rules for what’s okay to put in an app mean that Spotify can’t actually tell you this, so they sent an e-mail to users explaining how to change your subscription.

Of course, the timing of this e-mail is not a coincidence. Apple is currently offering a three-month free trial of its Music service, which competes directly with Spotify. Apple Music has the advantage of already being installed on customers’ devices, of course.

There are two ways to subscribe to a service like Spotify: directly through the app (billed to your iTunes credit card) or directly through Spotify. Both methods let you stream music through your phone, and the difference is the knowledge that you’re depriving Apple of three bucks a month…while you use your pricey Apple-made device.

How will Apple react to this e-mail? Will enough users expend the effort to end their subscriptions and re-subscribe directly through Spotify’s website to save $36 a year? It will be interesting to see how this plays out as part of the apparent streaming wars.

Spotify encourages customers to bypass Apple’s App Store, save $3 per month on subscriptions [AppleInsider]

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