Spotify boss reveals real reason why Prince Harry & Meghan Markle’s £18m podcast deal ‘didn’t work’ before couple axed
SPOTIFY’s boss has revealed the real reason that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s podcast deal was scrapped.
Daniel Ek, chief executive of the streaming giant, shared his thoughts after the Sussexes pocketed an estimated £18million.
But Archetypes yielded only 12 episodes presented by Meghan and a “Holiday special” in 31 months.
Spotify and Archewell released a joint statement back in June claiming that the deal was ended by “mutual agreement”.
Shedding new light on the decision not to renew Harry and Meghan’s deal, Spotify boss Ek suggested that the podcast “didn’t work”.
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.
“And 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.”
Ek was speaking to the BBC’s Zoe Kleinman who quizzed him on whether 12 podcasts across two-and-a-half years from the Sussexes was worth £18million.
She said his response had been “very diplomatic”.
On a conference call with financial analysts earlier this year, Ek conceded mistakes were made during a spree of more than $1billion as it attempted to establish itself as the top competitor in the industry.
Meghan revealed she had signed the podcast deal in December 2020 following the pair’s departure from the Firm.
But it took a further 18 months before the Archetypes series was launched in August 2022.
Meghan’s show sparked controversy after claiming her baby Archie had to be saved from a fire when the Sussexes were on a royal tour of Africa.
The Duchess of Sussex, 41, also told listeners she quit an $800-an-episode job as a briefcase model on American game show Deal or No Deal because she felt “objectified”.
Being ditched by Spotify was the latest shattering loss for the couple.
Meg’s animated series Pearl was ditched by Netflix last year.
She had been working on it with Sir Elton John’s producer husband David Furnish.
The show was canned as part of cutbacks amid a collapse in Netflix subscribers.
On a conference call with financial analysts earlier this year, Ek conceded mistakes were made during a spree of more than $1billion as it attempted to establish itself as the top competitor in the industry.