Green points to subjectivity in new Spotify policy

IT’S BEEN just over a week since music streaming service Spotify announced it will be implementing a new policy against “hate content” and “hate conduct”. The policy, according to international media, will determine (to an extent) the artiste and music it wishes to promote. The first artistes to ‘suffer’ from the platform’s new policy were XXXTentacion and R. Kelly.

In an exclusive interview with Billboard, Spotify’s representative explained “his (R. Kelly’s) music will still be available on the service, but Spotify will not actively promote it. We don’t censor content because of an artiste’s or creator’s behaviour, but we want our editorial decisions – what we choose to programme – to reflect our values. When an artiste or creator does something that is especially harmful or hateful, it may affect the ways we work with or support that artiste or creator.”

SUBJECTIVE POLICY

While Spotify may have good intentions with its new policy, several members of the international music industry believe the new policy is extremely subjective. Among the issues raised were who gets to decide what is defined as hate content and whether or not other persons such as producers and songwriters should be punished by not having their material streamed on the platform because of something an artiste did.

It has raised some concerns locally not only because many Jamaican artistes use Spotify to promote their music, but because they have produced songs that may be considered ‘hateful content’, as well as the fact that many local artistes have criminal backgrounds. Cordel