Spotify has used round 10 % of its $100 million range fund

Spotify has spent lower than 10 % of its $100 million Creator Fairness Fund in its first 12 months, Bloomberg reported. The fund’s function is to bolster range in music and podcasts by way of licensing, creating, and selling work by marginalized creators.

Final 12 months, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek announced the creation of the fund(Opens in a new tab) following controversy surrounding podcaster Joe Rogan, who has a $200 million unique cope with the music streaming service. Rogan has used the n-word(Opens in a new tab) and different racist language on his podcast The Joe Rogan Expertise and has unfold misinformation relating to COVID vaccines as effectively. Staff and musicians like Neil Younger referred to as on Spotify to chop ties with Rogan, however as a substitute, they removed dozens of episodes(Opens in a new tab) and dedicated $100 million to the fairness fund.

The determine of $100 million was meant to be symbolic, as Rogan was rumored to obtain $100 million from the platform — however later, it was revealed Rogan is definitely paid double that.

The cash was speculated to be distributed over three years, individuals aware of the matter informed Bloomberg, however attributable to an absence of construction and shifting priorities on the firm, that plan hasn’t materialized. Based on an inner memo obtained by Bloomberg, the fund was nonetheless figuring out its 2023 funds initially of the 12 months and hadn’t but decided precedence tasks.

A Spotify spokesperson informed Bloomberg that over $10 million of the fund has been spent, nevertheless. They cited GLOW(Opens in a new tab), an initiative to assist LGBTQ creators, and Nailing It(Opens in a new tab), a podcast hosted by three Black ladies, as avenues the place the cash has been spent. Moreover, this week Spotify announced a partnership with Spelman College(Opens in a new tab), a traditionally Black ladies’s school, to offer scholarships for college kids all for podcasting.

The spokesperson informed Bloomberg in an emailed assertion: “The Spotify Creator Fairness Fund is devoted to quite a lot of initiatives that assist elevate and assist an inclusive and numerous portfolio of artists and creators on the platform…We’re in a position to empower and uplift underrepresented voices around the globe.”