Spotify has only spent 10% of its diversity fund
Following the Joe Rogan race controversy last year, Spotify pledged $100million to their Creator Equity Fund, which aimed to promote diversity throughout music and podcasting on the platform. However, it has emerged that the streaming company spent less than 10% of the finances available.
The fund was announced last February after historic footage emerged of Joe Rogan, who has a lucrative exclusivity agreement with the platform, using racial slurs on many occasions. Additionally, musician Neil Young also asked for his catalogue of material to be pulled from the platform because he didn’t want to be associated with Rogan. Young felt the comedian was spreading misinformation about Covid-19 on his podcast.
At the time, it was widely presumed Rogan had signed a $100million contract with the streaming platform, which explains why they put the same amount of money behind their Creator Equity Fund. However, it has since emerged Rogan’s figure is closer to $200million.
“The Spotify Creator Equity Fund is dedicated to a variety of initiatives that help elevate and support an inclusive and diverse portfolio of artists and creators on the platform,” a spokesperson for Spotify wrote in a statement when they launched the fund. “We are able to empower and uplift underrepresented voices around the world.”
Now, unionised employees at Spotify’s true crime podcast network Parcast have written in a statement to Bloomberg: “We are seriously questioning this company’s commitment to funding this committee, and by extension, the values it represents.”
The report explains how Spotify had issues hiring staff for the department, and there was also a problem with “shifting priorities”. They also attained a memo from earlier this year which says the company were still yet to finalise the fund’s budget and prioritise their projects.
Far Out has reached out to Spotify for comment.
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