When Spotify raised more than $500m this month in a funding round that valued the music streaming company at $8.5bn, investors played down the risk of it being crushed in a bruising battle with Apple.
After all, the Swedish start-up was on a roll. Subscriber numbers had doubled over the past year to 20m, up from 15m in January, giving the company a big lead over rivals in the race for control of the fast-growing market.
But on Sunday, Apple gave the clearest signal yet of its ambition to dominate this nascent market at almost any cost — even if that means burning through a portion of its $200bn cash pile in the process.
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