Like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and India Arie, Ava DuVernay’s Array is no longer doing business with Spotify.Just over a year after the activist Oscar nominee’s film collective inked a first look deal with the music and podcast streamer, a spokesperson for Array has confirmed the plug has been pulled.
Even though Array had set the LEAP Files podcast as its inaugural offering with Spotify, no actual projects had made it to the streaming platforms yet.A spokesperson for Spotify said the company had no comment today on Array’s exit, which occurred in the last few weeks.However, it can’t be ignored that the exit comes as classic rockers and others have taken Spotify to task for the Covid-19 vaccine “misinformation” and repeated use of the N-word by Joe Rogan.
As the likes of the Heart of Gold songwriter have pulled their music from the service, self-described “moron” Rogan has alternated between apologizing for his language and his handling of guests and seemingly doubling down in playing to his audience.Having forked out $100 million for the exclusive rights to the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Spotify have added some warning labels and uttered platitudes about “learning opportunities” otas more and more controversy swirled around the contentious Rogan.
However, otherwise the Daniel Ek-run organization have pretty much backed their golden boy.Array and Spotify unveiled their multi-year agreement to promote inclusive storytelling and produce exclusive scripted and unscripted series back in January 2021.
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