The Real Reason Musicians Are Fuming Over Meghan And Harry's Spotify Deal
After leaving Frogmore Cottage at Windsor for a residence in California, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been trying to live a life as normal as possible next to one-year-old Archie (via Page Six). Since stepping down from their royal duties in March 2020, Harry started looking for a new job and landed a position at a tech company in Silicon Valley. Harry is now chief impact officer for Better Up, an online coaching service for people who want to improve their work performance and lifestyle.
"I was so impressed with his genuine and sincere desire to be of service and to make a positive impact in the world," said Better Up's CEO Alexi Robichaux about Harry's hiring (via the Lincoln Journal Star). "Long before we had the opportunity [of] meeting him, I had always had a daydream that maybe we would be fortunate enough to work with someone like him, who's been one of the leading forces in the world for mental health."
Besides Harry's gig at Better Up, the couple got into a $25 million deal with Spotify to produce original podcasts, per the New York Post. The deal has the music community in the U.K. grinding their teeth considering how little they get paid for streams on the platform.
Meghan and Harry's millionaire Spotify deal undermines how little musicians are paid on the platform
Back in December 2020, the royal couple released a podcast holiday special on Spotify under the name Archewell Studio. The episode featured stars such as Tyler Perry, Naomi Osaka, and Elton John, along with their child Archie saying, "Happy... New...Year!" at the end (via USA Today). While Archewell Studio hasn't released any more content since, they're getting ready to launch several podcasts this year. However, not everyone is excited with Meghan and Harry's latest endeavor.
British musician Harrison Rhys told the Daily Star that the couple's deal with Spotify was an "unethical kick in the teeth." "I believe what Spotify have done is unethical, we are only being paid £0.0038 per stream but they are able to pay out what is probably a multimillion-dollar fee to Harry and Meghan," he told the outlet.
On top of their millionaire podcast business, Meghan and Harry signed a deal with Netflix for a new docuseries about the Invictus Games, a tournament for wounded veterans founded in 2014 by Harry, per CBS News.