Spotify and Google are testing option for alternative payment systems

Spotify, in collaboration with Google, has started testing so-called User Choice Billing in the Benelux, among others. The feature makes it possible for app providers to choose their own payment system, while Google still receives a commission for every purchase.

Click for a gif. Source: Spotify

The new UCB system gives users according to Spotify the ability to choose a payment option via the app. The music service claims to be the first company to use the concept. In the meantime, Bumble also appears to have joined the pilot.

If an application chooses the UCB system, the company will pay 4 percent less commission to Google if customers choose an alternative payment system. The commission to be paid via Google Play does not change. The standard commission via Google Play is 15 to 30 percent of the purchase amount, so in theory Spotify now pays 4 percentage points less commission if a purchase is made via its own payment system.

The recently started lawsuit between Google and Epic Games shows that this is not necessarily the agreement that Google and Spotify have concluded. A lawyer for Epic stated according to The Verge that Spotify has to pay a significantly lower commission. It is not officially known what exactly the relationship between the two companies is.

Google decided last year to introduce an adjusted payment policy due to criticism from Epic Games and Spotify, among others, about the commission they have to pay on in-app purchases via the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.