Harry And Meghan: Spotify Ends Podcast Deal With Couple
The lucrative agreement that Spotify had with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to produce podcasts has come to an end.
In a joint statement, the streaming behemoth and Harry and Meghan’s business announced they have “mutually agreed to part ways.”
The 12-episode first season of Meghan’s podcast Archetypes, which debuted on Spotify in August 2022, was officially canceled.
In late 2020, the contract’s anticipated value was $25 million (£18 million).
One of the significant business arrangements the couple made after resigning from their royal duties and moving to the US in 2020 was the podcast deal.
Spotify Ends Podcast Deal With Couple
When it was announced in late 2020, the prince said it would “bring forward different perspectives and voices that perhaps you haven’t heard before”.
Archetypes saw Meghan speak to high-profile figures like Serena William and Mariah Carey about stereotypes levelled against women.
A statement from Spotify and Archewell Audio, the couple’s content creation label, said they were “proud of the series we made together”.
In December, Archetypes won the top podcast award at the People’s Choice Award in Los Angeles.
At the time, Meghan wrote: “I loved digging my hands into the process, sitting up late at night in bed, working on the writing and creative.
“And I loved digging deep into meaningful conversation with my diverse and inspiring guests, laughing and learning with them. It has been such a labour of love.”
The Wall Street Journal quoted an Archewell spokeswoman as saying Meghan was “continuing to develop more content for the Archetypes audience on another platform”.
When the agreement with Spotify was first announced, it was billed as a relationship which would produce several series – but in the end, only one materialised.
American media reports suggest the royal couple failed to meet the productivity benchmark required by Spotify, and therefore wouldn’t be receiving the full value of the contract.
Since splitting from the royal family, Harry and Meghan have looked to capitalise on their global fame in order to become financially independent.
That has included a multi-million dollar content deal with Netflix, and Harry’s huge contract with Penguin Books, which has already produced his autobiography Spare.
It follows Spotify’s announcement last week that it was cutting 200 jobs in its podcast division after a period of heavy investment in the medium, saying it was embarking on a “strategic realignment”.