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By Devon Maloney, The Verge
Following reports last week that Spotify would be walking back its recently implemented hateful content and conduct policy, the company has officially announced it will be “moving away from implementing a policy around artist conduct.”
In an update posted to its website, Spotify said that the two-prong policy — which barred both songs with hateful lyrics and the catalogs of artists who have been accused of hateful conduct from being included in the streaming service’s curated playlists — was “too vague,” “created confusion and concern,” and “didn’t spend enough time getting input from our own team and key partners before sharing new guidelines.”
Stating that Spotify “[doesn’t] aim to play judge and jury,” the announcement goes on to highlight the “deeply rooted ... respective cultures” of its playlist editors, and that “their decisions focus on what music will positively resonate with their listeners. That can vary greatly from culture to culture, and playlist to playlist.”
When Spotify originally announced its hateful content and conduct policy back in May, the company declined to list the artists who were being removed as a result of the new rules, though it did confirm that singer R. Kelly, who has been repeatedly accused of sexual misconduct, and rapper XXXTentacion, who has been charged with beating his ex-girlfriend, would be among those banned. (Shortly thereafter, Apple Music and Pandora announced they would be following suit with R. Kelly’s catalog.)
The backlash among artists, labels, and management was swift. Reports surfaced that many, including Pulitzer Prize winner Kendrick Lamar, accused the company of racial bias in their implementation of the policy. Earlier this week, after it was reported that Spotify had told artists and labels that it would be walking back the policy, CEO Daniel Ek admitted in an interview that the policy was “rolled out wrong.”
The announcement clarifies that the hateful content part of the policy will remain in effect, and “content whose principal purpose is to incite hatred or violence against people because of their race, religion, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation” will remain absent from the service’s playlists.
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