Although Still Available, Spotify Will Stop Actively Promoting R. Kelly’s Music On Their Service

Reported to Billboard.com, Spotify will stop promoting R. Kelly’s music directly from them, meaning through Spotify sponsored playlists and specials throughout their services. 

What this mean is that R. Kelly’s music will still be available, Spotify just won’t have a direct correlation with sponsoring and promoting his music. This is a part of their “Hate Content & Hateful Conduct” policy. When trying to decipher what is considered hate content, their policy states the following.

“Hate content is content that expressly and principally promotes, advocates, or incites hatred or violence against a group or individual based on characteristics, including, race, religion, gender identity, sex, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, veteran status, or disability.

At the same time, however, it’s important to remember that cultural standards and sensitivities vary widely. That means there will always be content that is acceptable in some circumstances, but is offensive in others, and we will always look at the entire context.”

“We are removing R. Kelly’s music from all Spotify owned and operated playlists and algorithmic recommendations such as Discover Weekly,” Spotify told Billboard. “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. When an artist or creator does something that is especially harmful or hateful, it may affect the ways we work with or support that artist or creator.”

With two more girls coming out with allegations against R. Kelly, and Spotify being the first big streaming service to speak out and on his music and deciding to make a stand; time will tell if other services follow as well.