Spotify has job listings to cover ‘every step’ of producing the Sussexes’ podcasts?

The British media thinks they have some kind of opening to nitpick the Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Harry and Meghan have not produced any podcasts in more than a year, and they’ve only produced one podcast thus far. British “sources” keep insisting – in very tortured ways – that Spotify is furious with Harry and Meghan, that Spotify will withhold payment, that Spotify is having second thoughts about the Sussexes’ contract because (get this) Harry and Meghan are so unpopular. The only story I’ve believed in recent months is that Spotify gave Harry and Meghan a “gentle nudge” to get on track to produce some podcasts. Now the Daily Mail claims that Spotify is appointing their own people to oversee production of the Sussexes’ podcasts.

They launched their £18million podcast deal a year ago with a pledge to promote ‘shared values’. But Harry and Meghan’s pet project appears to have suffered a blow, with audio giant Spotify reportedly taking production into its own hands. After the deal resulted in only one show being streamed, it is advertising for in-house staff to cover ‘every step’ of the process.

Spotify announced the partnership with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Archewell Audio in December 2020 as they were ‘citizens of the world’ who wanted to ‘elevate underrepresented voices’. But aside from a 33-minute ‘holiday special’ that month featuring friends such as Sir Elton John and James Corden – and the intensely private couple’s son, Archie, speaking his first public words – there has been a deafening silence.

The latest move follows Harry and Meghan adding two more ‘entertainment’ companies to their growing business empire in Delaware. The pair, who stepped back from royal duty last year, are setting up a complex network of companies all based in the opaque tax haven state.

Spotify had said it expected the first ‘complete series’ from Archewell Audio in 2021, but has since given no further updates. In July, Archewell hired an experienced podcast producer, Rebecca Sananes, and confirmed it was ‘looking forward to sharing more content later in 2021’.

Now Spotify is hiring producers through its podcast arm, Gimlet, to work with Archewell Audio. The jobs are being offered to applicants on six-month contracts based in Los Angeles. One advert for a senior producer role reads: ‘We’re currently assembling a show team that will build and launch a new original show with Archewell featuring the voices of high-profile women. The ideal candidate has experience working with high-profile talent, and an interest in the intersection of social activism and popular culture.’

[From The Daily Mail]

The Mail is making this sound like a bad thing for Harry and Meghan, but it sounds more like… Archewell Audio and Spotify are on the same page, and they’re working in concert. It sounds like Spotify’s new mission is to help Archewell Audio produce podcasts. It also sounds like someone at the Daily Mail has been assigned the task of “reading all of the job openings listed for Spotify and trying to make a story out of it.” That’s how little access the British media has to the Sussexes now – they have to resort to examining Spotify’s job listings and Delaware’s latest incorporated business filings. LOL.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.