Goodbye Spotify: Harry and Meghan cut ties with streaming giant

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have parted ways with Spotify, ending a lucrative podcast deal.

In a fresh blow for the streaming giant, which last week announced it was cutting 200 jobs in its podcast division, the royal couple released a statement saying they had "mutually agreed to part ways".

Spotify had put out just 12 episodes of Meghan’s podcast Archetypes which ran from August 2022, with a break following the late Queen Elizabeth's death in September.

The contract, struck in late 2020, was said to be worth a staggering $25 million (approx. €22.8 million) and was one of the most significant commercial agreements the royals signed up for following their decision to leave the UK for California that year.

Archetypes, which featured Meghan interviewing high profile guests like Mariah Carey and Serena Williams about stereotypes thrust upon women, was a success - topping charts and winning the top podcast award at the People's Choice Award last December.

A statement from both Spotify and Harry and Meghan’s content creation label, Archewell Audio, said they were, quote, "proud of the series we made together".

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Some media are reporting Spotify's dissatisfaction with the level of content Archewell Audio were producing, which ultimately led to the ending of the partnership.

Several series were slated to launched by the company when the deal was first announced. 

Some American media outlets have claimed that the royal couple were not productive enough and, as a result, didn’t correctly fulfil their contract terms.

An Archewell spokeswoman said Meghan was "continuing to develop more content for the Archetypes audience on another platform".

Since distancing themselves from the Royal