Spotify’s CEO has suggested that Harry and Meghan’s £18million podcast deal collapsed because consumers weren’t happy with it after the Sussexes created just 12 podcasts in two and a half years.
Daniel Ek, who made a rare media appearance nearly four months after it was announced that the Archetypes podcast would not be renewed for a second season, admitted that some of Spotify’s innovative ideas haven’t gone to plan.
Meghan’s multi-million pound Spotify deal was halted in June following a ‘mutual’ decision between the streaming giant and Archewell Audio – the Duchess and Prince Harry’s company.
Sources close to the multi-million pound deal – which was signed by the couple in 2020 – said it was scrapped after the pair failed to produce enough content to justify the full payout.
Spotify boss Ek shed new light on the decision not to renew Harry and Meghan’s deal, telling the BBC: ‘We thought new innovation was needed here. We thought we could come in and deliver a great experience that both makes consumers very happy and opens up new avenues for new creators.”
He added: “And the truth is some of it has worked, some of it hasn’t. We learn from that and move on.
We wish everyone we didn’t renew the best success they can have in the future.”
Meghan’s multi-million pound Spotify deal was canceled in June. It was officially said to be a ‘mutual’ decision between the streaming giant and Archewell Audio – the company owned by the Duchess and Prince Harry
Daniel Ek (pictured) suggested Harry and Meghan’s £18m podcast deal fell through because consumers weren’t happy with it
Ek spoke to the BBC’s Zoe Kleinman, who had asked him whether twelve podcasts over two and a half years from the Sussexes would be worth £18 million. She said his response had been “very diplomatic.”
Meghan’s podcast was one of the most high-profile casualties at the time. It came after Spotify’s deal with Barack and Michell Obama’s production company also ended last year.
During a conference call with financial analysts earlier this year, Ek admitted mistakes were made during a $1 billion-plus run as the company tried to establish itself as the industry’s biggest competitor.
After it became known that Harry and Meghan’s podcast would not be renewed, Spotify CEO Bill Simmons described the couple as ‘f****** grifters’, an American term for scammers.
Simmons, head of Podcast Innovation and Monetization at Spotify, condemned the pair in an episode of his own podcast.
“The damn scammers. That’s the podcast we should have launched with them,” he said.
“One night I have to get drunk and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to help him with a podcast idea. It’s one of my best stories.’
In June, it was reported that Harry hoped to interview Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Pope Francis and Mark Zuckerberg about their upbringings and childhood traumas on a Spotify podcast.
Meghan’s (pictured on the podcast) Archetypes podcast only aired twelve episodes before it was canceled
Meghan Markle’s Spotify podcast featured guests like Paris Hilton, Mindy Kaling and Serena Williams as it looked to explore and undermine “the labels that try to limit women.”
Despite the podcast not being renewed, filings filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) reveal that Archewell has “revived” its trademark bid for the Archetypes podcast title, even after the Spotify deal had already been dropped.
However, late last month it was confirmed that the Duchess had abandoned her dreams of trademarking the podcast after an application was withdrawn following an unsuccessful 17-month battle to get the title protected.
Meghan’s search to trademark the name began in March last year, when the application was first filed. But in January, the USPTO rejected it due to the “likelihood of confusion” with an existing trademark of the same name.
Archetypes – a word that first appeared in the English language 470 years ago – was already registered in May 2018 by the American company Project Miracle IP Holdings.
Project Miracle registered the name for ‘providing a website containing blogs and non-downloadable publications in the form of articles in the areas of nutrition, fitness, sexuality, psychological self-improvement, personality identification and matching, personal relationships and dating, spirituality, horoscopes and astrology, fashion, music, and book reviews and recommendations.”
The Sussexes’ attorney in the case subsequently requested an “adjournment” to respond, giving them until July 18 to respond to the USPTO’s “non-final action” to trademark the trademark to reject.
Harry and Meghan stood shoulder to shoulder with Hollywood stars Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres at Kevin Costner’s fundraiser in September
They made a guest appearance at Costner’s benefit concert for Santa Barbara first responders in Montecito
During this time, it was announced that Spotify would not be renewing the podcast for another season and dropped the couple.
Still, on July 24, USPTO received a “Petition to Resurrect the Trademark Application.”
It was submitted that the Archewell ‘respectfully disagrees that there is a likelihood of confusion’ and ‘requests that the denial be withdrawn’.
The application was revived shortly afterwards before the couple decided to end the battle once and for all last month when they withdrew by filing an ‘express cease and desist’.
The podcast, which aired a total of 12 episodes, featured guests such as Paris Hilton, Mindy Kaling and Serena Williams as it looked to explore and subvert “the labels that try to limit women.”
It also won the People’s Choice Award for Pop Podcast of 2022.
Harry and Meghan put on an extraordinary red carpet-style display of flirtation and affection at the Invictus Games last month in their first official public engagements since May.
Body language expert Judi James told MailOnline that the tactile royals were reasserting themselves as a global ‘celebrity power couple’.
Harry and Meghan put on an extraordinary display of red carpet-style flirting and affection at the Invictus Games last month
Body language expert Judi James told MailOnline that the tactile royals reasserted themselves as a global ‘celebrity power couple’
Their public displays of affection, after it emerged that Meghan had removed her engagement ring because a setting had come loose, came after friends of the couple ripped off speculation about their future in Hollywood and raised rumors of tensions behind the scenes.
Ms James said: ‘Meghan and Harry’s body language really seems to be signaling that the Harry and Meghan roadshow is back in the room.
‘It’s been a while since fans have been treated to some of their signature rituals of being together as a couple and as a professional double act, but they appear here and take the applause like celebrities with Harry back in his proud, protective drag pose. holding hands with a very excited looking Meghan.
“Their hand-wrapping is mutual, with Harry’s hand on top in a gesture of dominance and Meghan’s fingers curled up to show mutual affection as Harry leans in to talk to her.”
Harry had traveled to Dusseldorf alone after a stopover in London. He and his wife separately performed numerous solo events this summer.
Their last public appearance was in New York in May, when Meghan received a Women of Vision Award. Doria Ragland was also present.
In early August, Harry embarked on an all-boys Asian tour with his best friend Nacho Figueras, while his wife partied with friends while watching Taylor Swift in LA and stayed home to care for Archie and Lilibet.
But during the Invictus Games, Meghan and Harry had a nice time together.
It came amid rumors that Meghan is forcing a brand divorce from her husband after his best-selling book Spare, which contains many brutal attacks on his family, seemingly damaged their popularity in the US and Britain.
The Sussexes also made a surprise appearance as special guests at Kevin Costner’s star-studded One805 Live! event at its $26 million polo field in Santa Barbara last month.
The Sussexes’ warm reception at the event reflected their success at the Invictus Games in Germany, when the crowd in Dusseldorf was keen to meet Harry and Meghan as they watched various events at the 2023 tournament.
The Duke and Duchess mingled with Hollywood royalty at the star-studded event, posing for photos with Costner, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia Di Rossi, and Oprah Winfrey.