Epic Games has spent the past few years in lawsuits and appeals with Apple and Google, after the company tried to beat revenue cuts that the App Store and Google Play Store get from in-app purchases. The ongoing legal action was primarily related to Fortnite, which is still absent from both stores, but now music platform Bandcamp may become embroiled in legal battles as well.
Bandcamp is a music platform intended primarily for independent artists to distribute their music, like the iTunes Store, but with more options for sound quality and no recording labels like middle men. It was acquired by Epic Games last month, at a time when Google began forcing apps to support Google Play Billing for most types of in-app purchases. Many apps in the Play Store previously used their own (or third-party) billing systems for purchases, as Google does not take a percentage of the revenue.
Bandcamp has now introduced an initial interruption to prevent Google from removing Bandcamp from the Play Store. In a blog post, the company said, “If changes to Google policy continue, starting on June 1, we will have to either pass Google fees to consumers (which makes Android a less attractive platform for music fans), and pass the fees on to artists (which we never will). , permanently running our Android business at a loss, or stopping digital sales in the Android app.Moreover, policy changes will affect our ability to pay artists quickly – instead of receiving payment 24 to 48 hours later, artists may not be paid Only 15 to 45 days after the sale.”
This appears to be the first (public) legal challenge against Google Play billing requirements, with most other apps and services either switching or removing the ability to purchase items in their Android apps. Audible and Barnes & Noble both removed the ability to purchase books from their Android apps recently, and instead required customers to purchase them from their web stores. Google is currently testing a “User Choice Billing” program with Spotify, which allows some apps to hold third-party payment systems for as long as Play Billing is still an option.
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