Free Republic

Spotify's (SPOT.N) CEO Daniel Ek renewed his attack on Apple (AAPL.O) on Wednesday in a series of tweets alleging the iPhone maker "gives itself every advantage while at the same time stifling innovation and hurting consumers". Ek tagged a number of sympathetic business leaders in his 21-tweet thread, including Musk, Microsoft president Brad Smith, and Proton founder Andy Yen. On Monday, the world's richest person Elon Musk criticized the fee Apple charges software developers - including his Twitter business - for in-app purchases, and posted a meme suggesting he was willing to "go to war" rather than pay it.

Neil Young, who recently chose to have his music removed from Spotify in protest of vaccine misinformation promoted by podcast host Joe Rogan, says his decision has nothing to do with censorship. “I support free speech,” Young wrote in a letter posted to his Neil Young Archives site. “I have never been in favor of censorship. Private companies have the right to choose what they profit from, just as I can choose not to have my music support a platform that disseminates harmful information. I am happy and proud to stand in solidarity with the front line health care workers...

Fast Company’s former editor and good friend Bob Safian recently returned to contribute a profile on Spotify founder Daniel Ek, in which they discussed his views on music distribution and curation. For a contrasting viewpoint, Safian also talked to Apple CEO Tim Cook about the way he and his company view music. Here’s what Cook said: “I couldn’t make it through a workout without music,” Cook says. “Music inspires, it motivates. It’s also the thing at night that helps quiet me. I think it’s better than any medicine.” Apple Music relies mainly on human curation to suggest music to users,...