Spotify maakte deze week bekend R. Kelly en XXXTentacion te weren uit hun eigen gemaakte playlists. De artiesten zijn nog wel te vinden op het streamingplatform, maar komen niet meer voor in de playlists die Spotify samenstelt.
De streamingdienst zegt artiesten te weren die in aanraking zijn gekomen met de autoriteiten in verband met ernstige zaken als bijvoorbeeld mishandeling en verkrachting. Daarnaast heeft de dienst een tool gebouwd die naar de inhoud van tracks luistert om te beoordelen of deze niet expliciete teksten bevatten.
R. Kelly’s management snapt niets van de beslissing van Spotify. “Mr. Kelly for 30 years has sung songs about his love and passion for women. He is innocent of the false and hurtful accusations in the ongoing smear campaign against him, waged by enemies seeking a payoff. He never has been convicted of a crime, nor does he have any pending criminal charges against him,” zo schrijven zij in een verklaring. “Spotify has the right to promote whatever music it chooses, and in this case its actions are without merit. It is acting based on false and unproven allegations. It is bowing to social-media fads and picking sides in a fame-seeking dispute over matters that have nothing to do with serving customers.”
Ze geven verder aan niet te begrijpen waarom juist R. Kelly wordt geweerd, terwijl er genoeg andere voorbeelden zijn te noemen. “Meanwhile, though, Spotify promotes numerous other artists who are convicted felons, others who have been arrested on charges of domestic violence and artists who sing lyrics that are violent and anti-women in nature. Mr. Kelly falls into none of these categories, and it is unfortunate, and shortsighted that Spotify fails to recognize this.”
Vanuit het team van XXXTentacion komt geen verklaring, maar de vraag wanneer andere artiesten die in verband zijn gebracht met dergelijke misstappen ook worden geweerd. Dit zou dan gaan om artiesten waaronder Michael Jackson, David Bowie, James Brown, Miles Davis, 6ix9ine, Nelly, Miguel, Trey Songz, Fabolous en Dr Dre.
a response from XXXTentacion’s team on Spotify's decision to remove him from playlists pic.twitter.com/ivtEDJ2yGS
— Joe Coscarelli (@joecoscarelli) May 10, 2018
Spotify launched its new initiative by saying it wouldn’t tolerate hateful content. “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,” they explained in a statement.
Time’s Up applauded these efforts, but others criticized the streaming giant. 50 Cent, for example, voiced his displeasure on Twitter. “Spotify is wrong for what there doing to artist like R Kelly and xxxtentacion,” he tweeted. “There not even convicted of any thing.” Kelly responded to the sentiment with gratitude. “@50cent thanks for the support fam,” he wrote. “No weapon formed…”
@50cent thanks for the support fam! No weapon formed…#BornForThis pic.twitter.com/KFHMs8SZZo
— R. Kelly (@rkelly) May 10, 2018
