Spotify recently snatched the music catalogs of artists R. Kelly and XXXTentacion off of its service, both of whom are tangled in a web of abuse allegations. Though their music remained on the popular streaming platform, Spotify announced it would no longer promote their music due to its new policy regarding “hate content and hateful content.”

In response to that policy, several artists, including Kendrick Lamar, threatened to pull their music from the company if the new policy remained in place.

Fearing the loss of these artists, Spotify is stepping back and reassessing.

According to Vulture, Spotify decided to move away from its new artist code of conduct.

On Friday, June 1, Spotify released a statement detailing their new decision.

"We don’t aim to play judge and jury," the company said. "We aim to connect artists and fans – and Spotify playlists are a big part of how we do that. Our playlist editors are deeply rooted in their respective cultures, and their decisions focus on what music will positively resonate with their listeners. That can vary greatly from culture to culture, and playlist to playlist. Across all genres, our role is not to regulate artists. Therefore, we are moving away from implementing a policy around artist conduct."

Photo: GIPHY

Many felt Spotify adopted the policy in light of the #MeToo and #MuteRKelly movements.

The streaming giant seemed to attempt to head off criticism from supporters of both those initiatives by arguing its artist code of conduct was "vague" and caused artists to worry “mistakes made in their youth would be used against them.”

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek called the code of conduct language "too ambiguous and option to interpretation" ahead of the announcement of its annulment.

"We rolled this out wrong, and could have done a much better job,” Ek said.

XXXTentacion, who faces allegations of domestic violence, will have his music back on Spotify's playlists, but the streaming company hasn't announced any plans to promote R. Kelly in the same fashion. Without the rule, however, The Hill reports that R. Kelly could again appear on playlists.

Spotify will continue its policy against hate content, however.

"Spotify does not permit content whose principal purpose is to incite hatred or violence against people because of their race, religion, disability, gender identity or sexual orientation," read the statement.

artist conduct policy

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