Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Spotify podcast failed to provide the innovation the company was looking for and it did not make its listeners happy, CEO Daniel Ek claimed.
The Spotify boss said the company was trying to position itself as a global leader in podcasts, and Harry and Meghan were meant to deliver that mission.
The couple produced 12 episodes in two and a half years. He told the BBC: “We thought new innovation was needed to happen here.
“We thought we can come in and offer a great experience that both makes consumers very happy and allows new creators new avenues.
But he added: “The truth of the matter is some of it has worked, some of it hasn’t.
“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.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s lucrative £18million Spotify deal was “mutually” ended last June after sources claimed there was not enough content produced to warrant the full payout.
Last year, Spotify also ended its deal with Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company.
All 12 episodes of Archetypes are still available on Spotify.
This is not the first time Harry and Meghan’s Spotify deal has been discussed.
Top Spotify podcast executive Bill Simmons – the Head of Podcast Innovation and Monetization at Spotify – had blasted the couple and said he felt “embarrassed” to work at Spotify alongside King Charles’s youngest son.
He said in his show The Bill Simmons Podcast: “What does he do? It’s one of those things where it’s like, what’s your talent. Why are we listening to you?
“So you were born in a royal family and then you left… Nobody cares what you have to say about anything unless you talk about the royal family, and you just complain about them.”
This June, Simmons added: “F****** grifters — that’s the podcast they should have launched… One night I’ll get drunk and tell the story of my Zoom call with Harry.
“I was trying to help him get a podcast off the ground. It’s one of my best stories.”
