Spotify’s deal with Prince Harry, Meghan Markle failed because ‘consumers’ weren’t ‘happy’: CEO

nypost.com:

failed partnership with Spotify continues to make headlines. Daniel Ek, the chief executive of Spotify, hinted that the highly publicized deal between the royals and the major streaming giant did not succeed because consumers were not impressed.The Duchess and Prince’s Harry’s company Archewell Audio produced a mere 12 podcasts during a two-and-a-half year span, after signing with Spotify in December 2020.During a recent interview with the BBC, host and technology writer Zoe Kleinman asked the CEO if he believed the partnership, which ended on June 15, 2023, was worth the $20M price tag.“You had some pretty big names,” she said. “You had the Obamas.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Was that worth the £18m?”In response Ek explained that the streaming platform aims to be open to giving new creators an opportunity to reach their audience. “We thought new innovation was needed to happen here,” he explained. “We thought we can come in and offer a great experience that both makes consumers very happy and allows new creators new avenues.”Despite their best intentions Ek admitted that Spotify had made some mistakes in the past. “And the truth of the matter is some of it has worked, some of it hasn’t,” he explained. “We’re learning from those and we are moving on and we wish all of the ones we didn’t renew with the best of success they can have going forward.”Ek is not the first Spotify exec to allude to having an issue with the content provided by Markle and Prince Harry.

In June 2023 during an episode of “The Bills Simmons Podcast,” the titular host called the couple of being modern-day swindlers.“‘The Fucking Grifters.’ That’s the podcast we shoulda launched with them,” said Simmons, the Ringer founder and head of podcast.