Tory MP says Harry and Meghan’s £30million Spotify podcast deal ‘sticks in the craw’ of musicians

Spotify has been criticised over its reported £30million podcast deal with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex by an MP who said it ‘sticks in the craw’ of struggling artists.

Winchester MP and former junior health minister Steve Brine made the claim as a senior executive from the audio streaming service faced MPs last night and defended the agreement with the royal couple that was announced in December.

Horacio Gutierrez, the platform’s head of global affairs, told the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee that ‘there is a market for certain talent because they command a certain amount of consumption’.

He said that podcasts and music streaming have a ‘completely different set of economics’ but said that investing in podcasts like that of Harry and Meghan helped the musical side of the business.

Spotify has been criticised by some well-known musicians including Taylor Swift over the amount it pays musical artists for every stream of a song on the platform. 

Mr Brine told Mr Gutierrez their pay deal ‘sticks in the craw of some of the artists who are driving Uber cars right now to pay the rent’.

Mr Gutierrez said: ‘Like a lot of our services, there is a market for certain talent because they command a certain amount of consumption.

‘We don’t get to negotiate directly with artists the way we negotiate with podcasters or people who create podcasts so the structure of that market is very different.’

He added: ‘The product is valued based on how many users it can attract, how many streams it will attract, which in turn determines how many advertisers are willing to advertise on the podcast which determines the economic opportunity, there’s a market that’s emerging for talent in that regard.’

When asked by Mr Brine whether Harry and Meghan have saved the music industry, Mr Gutierrez responded: ‘That seems a bit premature.

‘They’re not the only act that we’ve signed, we’ve signed dozens of those and we’ll continue to do that.’

Spotify announced in December that the Sussexes will produce and host their own shows as part of the newly formed Archewell Audio. 

The firm has not revealed what the contract is worth, but the streaming service agreed a £75m ($100m) deal with US comedian Joe Rogan last May. The Mirror reported the Sussexes would be paid £30million – other sources put it closer to £20million.

On Monday the duke, 36, and duchess, 39, who last week officially split from the Royal Family, appeared in a 20-second video plugging the podcast at a Spotify live stream event.

In the brief appearance, Meghan said that they are ‘using podcasting to drive powerful conversations’, before Harry added that they ‘inspire, challenge and educate’.

‘We created Archwell audio to make sure we can elevate voices that maybe aren’t being heard and hear people’s stories,’ Meghan, who was wearing a £2,645 Oscar de la Renta dress, added.

Harry finishes: ‘And the biggest part of this is trying to create this community of where you can share, that will encourage everybody else to then share their own vulnerabilities in that safe space.’ It is unclear when the video was filmed.