Spotify solely spent 10 per cent of its $100million variety fund previously 12 months

Spotify executives have solely spent 10 per cent of their $100million (£81.75million) funds on a brand new fund to advertise music and audio content material by members of “historically marginalised groups”.

The Creator Equity Fund was launched final 12 months within the wake of controversy surrounding Joe Rogan’s Spotify-exclusive podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, resulting from makes use of of the N-word and COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.

Just over a 12 months on, nonetheless, Bloomberg has discovered that the initiative has bought off to a sluggish begin. Spotify was discovered to have taken months to rent workers and take care of “shifting priorities”, and Bloomberg additionally obtained a memo which mentioned that originally of the 12 months, they have been nonetheless finalising the fund’s funds and have been nonetheless finding out their precedence initiatives.

A mission supervisor was appointed and groups assembled to pitch and create reveals and help with advertising and marketing, the initiative lacked sufficient of a construction when it comes to fielding initiatives and funding.

“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 mentioned in a press release. “We are able to empower and uplift underrepresented voices around the world.”

Many shops have identified that the Creator Equity Fund had the identical funds as Rogan’s contract with Spotify (although others have estimated that his contract was value twice as a lot).

Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek additionally failed to say when the initiative was introduced how lengthy it will final, describing it solely as an “incremental investment.” A Spotify spokesperson insisted that the system was working, however mentioned that he fund was designed to final “multiple years” somewhat than a set timeframe.

“We are seriously questioning this company’s commitment to funding this committee, and by extension, the values it represents,” unionised workers at Spotify’s true crime podcast community Parcast wrote in a press release to Bloomberg.

Following the Rogan controversy final 12 months, the likes of Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash and Nils Lofgren all pulled their catalogues from the streaming platform as a method of protest.