The Duke Harry and Duchess Meghan of Sussex have expressed their “concerns” about misinformation about Covid on Spotify but will continue to work with the platform.
The pair said they are “determined to pursue a $25million (£18million) content deal and will continue to press Spotify bosses for changes.
Top artists pulled the songs from the streaming service to protest his work with Joe Rogan, an American podcast host who interviewed vaccine suspects.
Neil Young is one of those cut ties.
In a statement, a spokesman for the Archewell Sussexes Foundation warned of the impact of “maliciousness and misinformation”.
They added: “Last April, our co-founders began raising concerns with our partners about the exaggerated consequences of Covid-19 misinformation on their platform.
“We continue to share our concerns with the app to ensure changes are made to its platform to help address this public health crisis.
“We look forward to meeting Spotify now and are committed to continuing our collaboration.”
Archewell Audio, the Sussex, California-based audio production company, only lists one podcast on Spotify, a “Christmas Special” released in December 2020.
When the Spotify deal was announced, the couple said their foundation would receive an undisclosed sum.
Young’s music is being removed from Spotify after issuing an ultimatum to remove his work or Joe Rogan’s Spotify-owned Experience podcast.
Singer Joni Mitchell announced on Saturday that she would be deleting her Spotify catalog “in solidarity” with Young.
Following Young’s reported concerns, The company said it aims to balance “listener safety and creator freedom” and that more than 20,000 Covid-related podcast episodes have been removed since the pandemic began.
He won the 2020 podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, worth more than $100 million, it was reported.
Comedian Rogan, 54, was previously controversial for suggesting young, healthy people shouldn’t get vaccinated.
But he addressed some of his comments last year, saying: “I’m not anti-vaccination. I think they are safe and encourage a lot of people to take them.”
The companies co-founder Daniel Ek said in a blog post: “We must do more to provide balance and access to information that is widely accepted by the medical and scientific communities we lead at this time. unprecedented”.
He said Spotify has pledged to issue clearer rules for content creators and agree to “content recommendations” that air before any podcast episode that includes a discussion about Covid.
