Spotify's head of podcast innovation and monetization has labeled Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex "grifters" after their multi-year $25 million deal ended after they made just 12 episodes.
Grifters refer to persons who engage in dishonest or fraudulent schemes to obtain money, goods or services through fraud or manipulation; they are capable of gaining the trust of others for personal gain.
Ringer podcast network founder Bill Simmons - who sold his company to Spotify for $196 million in 2020 and gained a leadership role at the company - criticized Harry and Meghan on his podcast after the deal was completed .
The Archetypes podcast, which was moderated by Meghan Markle, featured conversations with friends and celebrities including Serena Williams, Mariah Carey and Trevor Noah. It topped the podcast charts for Spotify in several countries, but only 12 episodes were made.
Sources close to Spotify have said that the royal couple did not meet the productivity standard required to receive full payment from the deal, having only completed a series of 12 episodes, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In a January 2022 episode of his podcast, Simmons said, "You live in Montecito and you just sell documentaries and podcasts and nobody cares what you say about anything unless you talk about the royal family and just complain about it. "
The Spotify – Harry&Meghan deal was one of the biggest ever signed for a fledgling podcast.
At the time, various sources said the deal to bring in Meghan and Harry was "a perfect fit" with the business model to grow Spotify's global audience of 320 million monthly active users.
But their prestigious deal ended early, and it appears that the termination of the deal is a shift in the company's strategy away from exclusive deals with non-entertainment celebrities.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek told the BBC that the company had "overpaid and overinvested".
