As the news is breaking that Spotify and Archewell are calling it a day and the inter webs have erupted in finger pointing and accusations of ‘failing to meet productivity benchmarks’, we ask: Is there more to the story?
Archewell Audio, the company of Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, announced the end of a multi-year partnership with Spotify in a joint statement released to CNN Friday, Jun 16.
“Spotify and Archewell Audio have mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together,” the statement said.
Meghan and Harry had the $20 million deal with Spotify to put out material they generated. Following one Christmas special in which the prime appeared, what the world actually got was Meghan’s podcast, ‘Archetypes’. In the video below, Sky Australia blames the failure to renew the contract on the fact that the podcasts were boring. Watch royal commentator Kinsey Schofield describe both Prince Harry and Meghan as innately “incredibly boring” people.
But wait, remember this?
Last month Meghan got a new talent agent. Does the William Morris announcement that they are taking over all aspects of Meghan’s content mean that they will hawk her wares to more than one streaming service? After all, one platform is very limiting when she wants to be a global icon. Now the Sussex-Archewell-WME combo can roll out content without any restrictions.
We are honored to announce that WME now represents Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex in all areas. https://t.co/xHPxCxVoMa pic.twitter.com/Ham9AkpEmq
— WME (@WME) April 27, 2023