Meghan Markle and Prince Harry during an official visit to Nottingham. (Nottingham, December 1, 2017) ABACA:
The streaming platform terminated the juicy contract signed with the couple in 2020. The latter produced only one series through its Archewell Audio brand.
Spotify and Sussex, that’s it. The legendary deal between the streaming giant and the organization led by Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle will end on Thursday, June 15, the US magazine announced. variety .
In 2020, the Sussexes and the platform agreed on an estimated $20 million. Its aim is to create a range of content modestly designed to “uplift and entertain audiences around the world”. But the pair have only produced one episode through their podcast brand Archewell Audio. The program, titled archetypes, consisted of conversations between Meghan and influential women and was a hit in the ratings. However, according to an anonymous source who is quoted variety, Spotify was hoping for more content. Therefore, Harry and Meghan will be looking for a new platform for their plans today, the magazine added, citing another unnamed source.
Meghan and Harry caricatured in the video south garden
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Complicated relationship
History between the Sussexes and Spotify has never been smooth sailing. In January 2022, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle joined the ranks of those worried about the platform’s editorial policy. The problem: a podcast produced by sports commentator and radio host Joe Rogan, The Joe Rogan Experience, which became the most listened to on the streaming platform that aired it exclusively. In his show, the American receives all kinds of guests, some of whom dispute the measures taken to fight against Covid-19 and the usefulness of vaccinations.
On Sunday, January 30, 2022, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry issued a press release through a spokesperson for their Archewell Foundation, taken here by CNN, saying they had been monitoring the situation since last year; “Since April of last year, our co-founders began to raise concerns with our partners at Spotify about the extremely serious consequences of misinformation surrounding Covid-19 on their platform. The Sussexes hoped Spotify would “apply” but said they were “committed to continuing their current work as it unfolds”.
A call for a boycott
The announcement comes after folk rock star Neil Young removed his entire catalog from Spotify on January 27, accusing the platform of “peddling lies for money”. Then he was imitated by his compatriot Johnny Mitchell. The decision by these two American music heavyweights sparked calls for a boycott of the website and a drop in its stock market value.
Spotify president Daniel Ek issued a statement on January 30, reproduced here by the site variety, stating that the platform was “committed to doing more to strike a balance and provide access to widely accepted information from the medical and scientific communities to guide us through these unprecedented times.” Under study is a warning system that will be broadcast before any pandemic-related content. And a link to a site with scientifically verified information.
Big deal, little content
Strongly committed to fighting misinformation, which they have made one of the pillars of their foundation, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry had no plans to remove their content from the platform. And for good reason. at the time, there was only one, a 33-minute podcast, which was posted online on December 29, 2020, during the Christmas holidays. A retrospective in which we could hear Archie’s first words before listening to celebrities such as Elton John, tennis champion Naomi Osaka or author Deepak Chopra reflect on the horrors of the year that saw the birth of the coronavirus pandemic. The experiment was not extended in 2021.
Take over
The platform decided to act against the almost empty page of Archewell on Spotify. On January 25, 2022, we learned that she instructed Gimlet Studios, which is responsible for producing the podcast, to recruit a team to help Archewell representatives produce a weekly show, including “leading women.” An ad seeking an experienced producer said “the ideal candidate had experience working with top talent and an interest in the intersections of social activism and popular culture.” He also had to know how to “work with the show’s team to produce episodes under tight deadlines.” It’s imperative that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry may never have been able to truly respect.
Source: Le Figaro
