R. Kelly's music removed from official Spotify playlists

The Swedish streaming service has introduced a “public hate content and hateful conduct” policy which will see all songs by the R&B singer - oft-beleaguered by accusations of sexual violence - removed from popular playlists such as RapCaviar, Discover Weekly, and New Music Friday.

This news comes into the wake of the #MuteRKelly campaign, coordinated by the movement Time’s Up, calling for streaming platforms and Kelly’s record label, RCA, to drop the artist.
Allegations have plagued Kelly for years, including recent reports of sexual assault, coercion and an alleged “sex cult”.

“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 behaviour, but we want our editorial decisions — what we choose to program — to reflect our values,” a spokesperson for Spotify told Billboard today.

Despite Kelly being named by Spotify as one of the people whose music will no longer be promoted, there are other artists who will also be affected by the new policy. It is still unclear what other artists might be affected.

Spotify also told Billboard that they are implementing new measures including internal monitoring, consultation with advocacy groups, and user reports.