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- Google responds
In 2020, Google announced a "new" Play Store policy change to prevent apps from circumventing Google's in-app billing rules. Companies like Amazon, Netflix, and Spotify had ignored its billing policies years in their apps, allowing customers to purchase content and subscriptions without Google taking a cut, but the hammer was set to fall. Although the change itself was delayed for a while, it finally kicks into gear soon, and now Epic Games is taking Google to court to prevent Bandcamp from being yanked from the Play Store for not giving Google a cut of its in-app sales.
Epic Games filed a preliminary injunction in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California yesterday against Google. Effectively, Epic Games (who now owns Bandcamp) is trying to get out ahead of any Play Store ban for its app that might be imposed as a result of its refusal to adopt Google's billing systems, which typically give Google a 15-30% cut of in-app sales. As in prior cases regarding Fortnite, Epic takes the position that it should not be required to adopt Google's billing systems though it benefits from the Play Store's tools and distribution system. When it came to the company's popular Fortnite game, that argument didn't work out, and it was kicked off the Play Store in 2020, though a legal dispute is ongoing.
Previously, there was a nebulous kind of "exception" in place for certain apps. Google's Play Store rules weren't very well-defined, and specific categories of apps (including music distribution and ebooks) circumvented Play Store billing systems for years based on a particular reading of the policies. That's why you're able to buy an ebook in the Kindle app directly on Android while you can't do it on an iPhone (for now). But that era is ending, and even Spotify is adopting a new Play Store-friendly payment pilot.
Bandcamp and Epic have taken the perspective that enforcement of the Play Store billing policies would do harm to artists — Bandcamp, if you aren't familiar, is a store for independent artists and music labels to sell music and merch. Bandcamp claims that the new fee would force it to run its Android business at a loss or require that it disable digital sales in the Android app. We should point out that Bandcamp already abides by Apple's nearly identical rules in that second way and does not sell music through its app on iPhones.
According to the text of the filing (which Google has also confirmed), Bandcamp was offered a 10% deal as part of its Media Experience Program, far lower than the standard up-to-30% rate it would likely have otherwise required. (Google has also been known to offer other separate "sweetheart" deals outside the Media Experience Program for big names in the past, giving them a special rate, though it's not clear if that's still occuring or if such offers evolved into the current program.) But Bandcamp claims even those fees would be too much to continue doing business, according to Page 10 of the filing. Other potential issues Bandcamp takes with Google's billing system is that it takes too long to cash out, affecting how quickly artists can be paid, as well as multiple complaints regarding the work to implement the change.
2022.04.29 Preliminary Injunction Motion by Ryne Hager on Scribd
Ironically, Bandcamp requires that artists on its platform accept a 15% cut to do business there. From a certain perspective, there's more than a little hypocrisy in taking a stance against platform access fees when you charge one yourself. Regardless of how "fair" Google's Play Store billing practices are or not, I doubt Bandcamp would be happy to allow artists to continue to sell through its platform if they refused to accept the associated fee.
Bandcamp must adopt the Play Store's billing changes by June 1st according to Google's policies or it faces removal from Google's store. We've reached out to Google for its side of things regarding the emerging conflict — or, from another perspective, the latest part of Epic Game's war against app stores — and we'll update if and when we hear anything more. Update: Google's statement is below
UPDATE: 2022/04/29 15:19 EST BY RYNE HAGER
Google responds
Following publication, Google provided us with the following statement:
“This is yet another meritless claim by Epic, which is now using its newly acquired app Bandcamp to continue its effort to avoid paying for the value that Google Play provides. We’ve been transparent about Play’s Payment policy for more than 18 months and, as Epic knows, Bandcamp is eligible for a service fee of just 10% through Play’s Media Experience Program—far less than the fees they charge on their own platforms. Despite their claims, Android’s openness means that Bandcamp has multiple ways of distributing their app to Android users, including through other app stores, directly to users via their website or as a consumption-only app as they do on iOS.” – Google spokesperson
Google separately pointed out that its fee for Play Store billing is less than what Bandcamp charges artists. The company also reiterated many of the points we made in our own initial coverage, explaining that artists aren't allowed to circumvent Bandcamp's billing system to bypass its cut either, though that's exactly what Bandcamp is trying to do. Google also pointed out that its policy only applies to digital goods and services, while Bandcamp takes a cut on physical goods as well. Google says 99% of developers already comply with its policy, and it is working with the remaining developers to help them integrate the required changes.
A prior version of this story also called the 10% cut a "sweetheart" deal, but Google tells us that's standard for its Media Experience Program.
Fortunately for Android customers in the meantime, Bandcamp can still continue distributing its app with any billing system it likes on its own, and customers are free to sideload it at their leisure. This isn't iOS; you can get your apps on Android from wherever you want, and developers can do anything they want (including implementing their own billing systems) if customers get them from outside the Play Store. Arguably, the Epic Games app is an app store of its own.
App store billing and app installation sources are current subjects of potential federal regulation right now in the US. The Open Markets Act (supported by Epic) still hasn't passed into law, but some of the rules that have been considered with it include forcing iPhones to allow installation of apps from sources outside Apple's App Store, forcing support for third-party app stores on all platforms, and requiring that Google and Apple both play nice with third-party billing systems on their respective stores.