Spotify Announces Hate Content/Conduct Policies

R. Kelly Reprimanded

SPOTIFY has publicly outlined its Hate Content And Hateful Conduct policies that will pertain to its tens of millions of tracks, which are growing by approximately 20,000 recordings a day. To do that, SPOTIFY will work with rights advocacy groups such as THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER, THE ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE, COLOR OF CHANGE, SHOWING UP FOR RACIAL JUSTICE (SURJ), GLAAD, MUSLIM ADVOCATES, and the INTERNATIONAL NETWORK AGAINST CYBER HATE.

Plus, an internal content monitoring tool, SPOTIFY AUDIOWATCH, has been created to identify content on the platform that has been flagged as hate content on specific international registers. SPOTIFY users are also encouraged to contact SPOTIFY with their concerns over specific content.  

In a post on their blog, they wrote: 

Nothing makes us more excited than discovering and sharing that music. One of the most amazing things about all that music is the range of genres, cultures, experiences, and stories embodied in it. We love that our platform is home to so much diversity because we believe in openness, tolerance, respect, and freedom of expression, and we want to promote those values through music on our platform.

However, we do not tolerate hate content on SPOTIFY - content that expressly and principally promotes, advocates, or incites hatred or violence against a group or individual based on characteristics, including, race, religion, gender identity, sex, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, veteran status, or disability.

We’ve also thought long and hard about how to handle content that is not hate content itself, but is principally made by artists or other creators who have demonstrated hateful conduct personally. We work with and support artists in different ways -- we make their music available on SPOTIFY and help connect them to new and existing fans, we program and promote their music, and we collaborate with them to create content. While we don’t believe in censoring content because of an artist’s or creator’s behavior, we want our editorial decisions -- what we choose to program -- to reflect our values. So, in some circumstances, when an artist or creator does something that is especially harmful or hateful (for example, violence against children and sexual violence), it may affect the ways we work with or support that artist or creator.

This is our first iteration of this new policy. These are complicated issues, and we’re going to continue to revise our Policy on Hate Content and Hateful Conduct. We’ll make some mistakes, we’ll learn from them, and we’ll always listen to you as we work to keep building the Spotify platform.

Read the entire post here.

First Casualties Of The Policy: R. Kelly, XXXtentacion 

The clause about monitoring and admonishing "artists or other creators who have demonstrated hateful conduct personally" is seen as the reason SPOTIFY removed R&B star R. KELLY and rapper and singer XXXTENTACION from all official playlists and recommendation features. While users can still choose to stream their music, it won't be highlighted in SPOTIFY’s curated packages that are usually pitched on the service’s front page. 

SPOTIFY is the latest entity to respond to a growing number of parties that have called on his record label and concert promoter, as well as local venues, radio stations and streaming services to cease its KELLY, who has been plagued with sexual misconduct allegations for years.  responsible after decades of accusations of sexual misconduct. #XXTENTACION has been charged with aggravated battery of a pregnant woman and witness tampering in Florida.

The #MUTERKELLY campaign founder ORONIKE ODELEYE was "awestuck" by the action, praising SPOTIFY's decision "to take this moral stance against R. KELLY’s amoral behavior,” she told the NEW YORK TIMES. “Hopefully it’s a domino effect with the other streaming services.”

At the same time, this opens SPOTIFY up to charges of favoritism, as music by MICHAEL JACKSON, CHRIS BROWN, and up-and-coming rock artists such as BRAND NEW, PWR BTTM and HEDLEY (whose members have been accused in recent months of sexual misconduct) have not been impacted.

When asked for comment, XXXTentacion spokeswoman AISHAH WHITE simply sent the TIMES an e-mail that listed 9 musicians, including GENE SIMMONS, MICHAEL JACKSON, OZZY OSBOURNE and DR. DRE, who have been accused over the years of sexual misconduct or physical violence, and noted, “I don’t have a comment, just a question. Will SPOTIFY remove all the artists listed below from playlists?” 

BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC Music Business and Management department Chairman DON GORDER admitted that the move could have "slippery slope" repercussions. “There are lots of bands in history that have been accused of bad behavior, but they’re not taking the pummeling that R. KELLY is taking,” adding that while he found KELLY's behavior "deplorable," he has yet to be convicted in court. Yet SPOTIFY “created this new moral standard — what is it? Where is the line?”

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