Why Did Spotify Drop Harry & Meghan? An Exec Just Called Them ‘Grifters’
It was touted as a podcast where “we investigate, dissect, and subvert the labels that try to hold women back”, with interviews with notable personalities like Serena Williams, Jameela Jamil, and Trevor Noah. But Archetypes was canceled after just one season and the real reason as to why Spotify dropped Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, though, we may never know.
Meghan launched her podcast with Spotify in 2022. According to Forbes, the former royal couple signed a contract worth $18 million in December 2020 for a three-year podcast deal with Spotify. “On Archetypes, you’ve listened to others tell their stories—now, Archewell Foundation is encouraging you to share your experience with archetypes, learn how they impact our lives, and take action,” the description for the podcast reads.
In December, Archetypes won the top podcast award at the People’s Choice Award. At the time, Meghan wrote: “I loved digging my hands into the process, sitting up late at night in bed, working on the writing and creative. And I loved digging deep into meaningful conversations with my diverse and inspiring guests, laughing and learning with them. It has been such a labor of love.” So why did Spotify drop Harry and Meghan? Read on to find out.
Why did Spotify drop Harry and Meghan?
We don’t really know why Spotify dropped Harry and Meghan, though a joint statement from the couple’s company, Archewell, and the audio streamer had “mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together,” per the New York Post published on June 15, 2023.
An Archewell Productions spokeswoman added to The Wall Street Journal: “Meghan is continuing to develop more content for the Archetypes audience on another platform.” A source with insider knowledge of the situation told the New York Post that Archewell simply didn’t produce enough content to receive the full pay-out of the multi-million-dollar deal in 2020, which was originally described by Spotify as a “multiyear partnership,” with the promise of delivering “podcasts that will inspire.” The collaboration, believed to be inked sometime in December 2020, resulted in just one season, 12 episodes, with the first episode released almost two years later in August 2022.
“Whatever position we might take on the content … there’s this ineluctable fact: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have a year and a bit, or less than 50 percent, of their stated three years left. They’re going to have to ramp up the velocity of production,” Forbes’ Guy Martin observed at the time.
Spotify executive Bill Simmons didn’t hold back on his opinion of the deal on his own, self-titled podcast. “I wish I had been involved in the ‘Meghan and Harry leave Spotify’ negotiation,” Simmons said. “‘The F—king Grifters.’ That’s the podcast we should have launched with them. 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 … F—k them. The grifters.”
Simmons previously criticized Harry in a January 2023 episode of his podcast, saying that he was “so embarrassed” to share Spotify with him. “What does he do? It’s one of those things where it’s like, what’s your talent? Why are we listening to you? So you were born in a royal family and then you left … You live in f—king Montecito and you just like, you sell documentaries and podcasts and nobody cares what you have to say about anything unless you talk about the royal family and you just complain about them.”
The reception of Markle’s podcast was pretty mixed, even though it won a People’s Choice Award in 2022. Critics’ reviews were mixed at best. “It’s the most self-congratulatory 57 minutes of audio you’ll hear all year,” wrote The Independent’s Olivia Petter. “Meghan frequently inserts herself into the conversation. When Williams alludes to some of the sexism and racism she has experienced in tennis, Meghan doesn’t ask her about it, and instead interjects to remind listeners just how close the pair are: “But hold on a second, unless you want – can I jump in there?” she says. “Because there are certain things that I know you won’t want to say about your experience, but I lived through a lot of that with you.” Petter continued: “What is being promoted as a subversive feminist podcast appears, so far, to be nothing more than an exercise in navel-gazing. One that is more about promoting its host than anyone else.”
Meanwhile, Steerpike column in the (London) Spectator wrote at the time: “The first guest is Serena Williams, but tennis enthusiasts who tune in might be a bit disappointed. The show is in fact all about Meghan since it takes 11 minutes for Serena to barely get a word in edgeways. It’s hard to believe that it took 28 people, including eight executive producers, to make the episode – plus Meghan herself, who is also listed as an ‘executive producer’ in the credits.” Ouch.
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