Spotify Boss Points to Unhappy Listeners as the Reason Meghan Markle’s Podcast Failed
When Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle stepped down from their roles within the royal family and moved across the pond, the couple signed a handful of lucrative deals, and one was with Spotify. The streaming giant waited nearly two years for the Sussexes to produce content. Finally, in August 2022 the Duchess of Sussex launched her podcast titled Archetypes.
After a promising start, Meghan’s podcast could not maintain a top position and dropped to No. 22 by November. In June, the company decided not to renew Archetypes and terminated its deal with the duke and duchess. Now, Spotify’s boss is giving insight into why the streaming platform decided to cancel the former Suits star‘s podcast.
Prince Harry’s wild interview prospects, and Sussexes being labeled as ‘f****** grifters’
A source previously told Us Weekly that “Spotify was supposed to release a statement saying how great it was to work with Meghan,” but they didn’t. And once it became public that the Sussexes’ deal was axed, many people commented on the situation and criticized the duo over it including Spotify executive Bill Simmons.
“The F**king Grifters. That’s the podcast we should have launched with them,” Simmons, who also hosts The Bill Simmons Podcast, said during his show.
He then teased what sounds to be an embarrassing story about when he spoke to the Duke of Sussex and tried to help the prince come up with a topic for a podcast.
“I have got to get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try and help him with a podcast idea. It’s one of my best stories,” Simmons revealed, before adding, “F*** them. The grifters.”
Some believe that Simmons was referring to a report that Prince Harry had a desire to interview Donald Trump, Pope Francis, Mark Zuckerberg, and Vladimir Putin to ask about their childhood traumas and upbringings.
Spotify boss talks about unhappy listeners and ‘lessons learned’
In an interview with BBC Spotify co-founder and current CEO Daniel Ek, who pulled Archetypes from the streaming service, justified his choice for axing Meghan’s podcast.
“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,” Ek said per Express. “The truth of the matter is, some of it has worked, some of it hasn’t.”
He added: “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.”
Following the cancellation of the duchess’s podcast, she and Harry tried to gain exclusive copyright ownership of the “Archetype” name. However, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected their application.
