Pandora, Apple Music also stops promoting R Kelly’s music

Following news of Spotify no longer promoting R Kelly’s music, Pandora announced it has stopped promoting singer R Kelly on its music streaming platform. According to an unnamed source, Apple has done the same thing quietly over the past few weeks. R Kelly’s music has been pulled from playlists like “Best Slow Jams of the 90s, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. But he is still prominently featured in the artwork for the playlists. Also, several R Kelly playlists are still on the service.

A couple of weeks ago, the women of color of the Time’s Up movement joined the #MuteRKelly campaign and issued an open letter that calls on multiple companies (like RCA Records, Spotify, Apple Music, and Ticketmaster) to cut ties with the artist in the wake of the recent sexual and physical abuse allegations levied against him.

Source: Pitchfork

Spotify takes R Kelly out of its official playlists

As part of the music streaming service’s new “Hateful Content & Hateful Conduct” policy, Spotify announced it would be taking out R Kelly’s music from its official playlists and recommendations (for example, playlists like Discover Weekly). While the R&B singer’s music will remain on the service, Spotify will no longer actively promote it. "We want our editorial decisions—what we choose to programؙ—to reflect our values," Spotify told Newsbeat. What classifies as hate content for Spotify is: "Content that expressly and principally promotes, advocates, or incites hatred or violence against a group or individual based on characteristics, including, race, religion, gender identity, sex, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, veteran status, or disability."

The company says it has been working on this global policy for “some months” and even invited users to report content it feels violates this policy. R Kelly has been the center of sexual assault allegations for years but has denied the claims.

Source: BBC