On Thursday, Spotify announced its decision to remove music by controversial artists from its editorial or algorithmic playlists, as part of its new public hate content and hateful conduct policy. In fact, the streaming service released a statement to Billboard to explain the situation, saying, “His music will still be available on the service, but Spotify will not actively promote it. We don’t censor content because of an artist’s or creator’s behavior, but we want our editorial decisions – what we choose to program – to reflect our values.”
Since then, another music platform has followed suit in ditching the self-proclaimed Pied Piper. According to The @Blast, Pandora has also cut promotion for controversial artists or those involved in criminal activity, such as R. Kelly.
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Similar to Spotify, Pandora has not removed the singer’s music completely but it will not make a radio station featuring Kelly nor will it promote him or his music actively.
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“Pandora’s policy is to not actively promote artists with certain demonstrable behavioral, ethical or criminal issues. We approach each of these scenarios on a case-by-case basis to ensure we address components true to Pandora’s principles while not overreaching and avoiding censorship,” the service said in a statement to the publication.
