Spotify has recently stirred controversy by taking it upon itself to punish musicians for their personal misdemeanours.
As part of the policy, it halted promotion of R. Kelly’s music amid accusations of sexual misconduct, and scrubbed the music of XXXTentacion from playlists after he was charged with battering a pregnant woman.
Now, following internal and external backlash, the company is reportedly reconsidering its policy against hate speech and misconduct. Kendrick Lamar reportedly threatened to pull his music from the platform, while artist relations boss Troy Carter threatened to leave, according to a new Bloomberg piece.
The report says Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek is now reconsidering the Hate Content and Hateful Conduct policy, which was announced on May 10.
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Bloomberg sources say it Spotify will ‘partially walk back’ the policy to punish the artists when they step out of line. The report points out the policy has been ‘especially unpopular among artists who work in hip-hop.’
“It is virtually impossible to police millions of songs, lyrics, contributors and artists,” said Vickie Nauman, a media consultant, told Bloomberg.
“Where and how do you draw the line? I support taking a stand and not willingly sponsoring a known violent artist, but it’s quite unclear to me how you can consistently monitor and apply any sort of similar editorial/social/cultural standards across art on any scale.”
Where do you stand on Spotify’s current policy? Do you think music should be blacklisted if the artist isn’t a good role model? Drop us a line @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
