Music streaming services, Spotify and Pandora, taking action amid the #MeToo movement and R. Kelly’s sex scandal and many are pissed off about it. In case you haven’t heard, just one day after Spotify announced they were pulling R. Kelly’s music from their playlists, Pandora has followed the same path…

Spotify’s Statement

On Thursday (May 10th), Spotify introduced their new “Hate Content & Hateful Conduct” policy and here’s part of what their announcement read:

“We are removing R. Kelly’s music from all Spotify owned and operated playlists and algorithmic recommendations such as Discover Weekly. … His music will still be available on the service, but Spotify will not actively promote it. We don’t censor content because of an artist’s or creator’s behavior, but we want our editorial decisions — what we choose to program — to reflect our values. When an artist or creator does something that is especially harmful or hateful, it may affect the ways we work with or support that artist or creator.”

Pandora’s Announcement

Then came Pandora’s more vague announcement as to why they’ll no longer “actively promote” R. Kelly’s music on their platform, as told to The Blast:

“Pandora’s policy is to not actively promote artists with certain demonstrable behavioral, ethical or criminal issues. We approach each of these scenarios on a case–by–case basis to ensure we address components true to Pandora’s principles while not overreaching and avoiding censorship.”

R. Kelly Responds

Via Chicago Tribune: “Kelly has never been accused of hate,” the singer’s management wrote in an emailed statement sent to the Tribune on Thursday afternoon. He is innocent of the false and hurtful accusations in the ongoing smear campaign against him, waged by enemies seeking a payoff,” the statement said.

Kelly’s management team says Spotify has the right to promote the music it chooses, but, in the case of Kelly, the corporation is “bowing to social-media fads and picking sides in a fame-seeking dispute over matters that have nothing to do with serving customers.”

50 Cent Stands Up

Following Spotify’s and Pandora’s announcement, major backlash and debate was sparked across social media.  50 Cent is one of the first celebrities to speak out publicly against the seemingly hypocritical moves made by the two streaming services:

Spotify is wrong for what there doing to artist like R Kelly and xxxtentacion. There not even convicted of any thing.

— 50cent (@50cent) May 10, 2018

Fans React

Many question why the streaming services are choosing to single out R. Kelly, even though he hasn’t been charged, while still allowing music by many other artists who have been either accused and/or convicted of sex assault and domestic violence to continue to be played and featured on their platforms.

https://twitter.com/YourMusicWhore/status/994674577556017153

Dear @Spotify, I hope your new hateful conduct policy will have the same energy to ban white artist like Elvis, John Lennon, Izzy Pop, Ozzy Osborne, Steven Tyler , etc. as you have for R.Kelly and XXXtentacion.

— A y y é M o n é (@AshaMone) May 10, 2018

https://twitter.com/JTMYVA/status/994576389004292096

Hypocritical Moves?

In no way do we, here at ILOSM, condone sexual assault of any kind, nor hate crimes, domestic violence, etc., but we do condone fair rules being applied across the board. And based on Spotify’s and Pandora’s new policies thus far, they’re giving off hypocritical vibes with the scarce implementations of their new rules. How so? Because there are plenty more artists they seem to have forgotten about. Artists of all races (Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, etc.), who probably earn a lot of money for Spotify and who have also been tried, accused, and/or convicted of crimes listed in the streaming companies’ new policies.

Point is, if Pandora and Spotify enforce their “new policies” equally -regardless of race, popularity, gender, music genre- they stand to lose a ton of profit, which they’re likely aware of. However, when it comes to company rules though, equal enforcement is always the right choice. Only time will reveal if the streaming giants plan to fairly practice what they preach. Thoughts ILOSM family?