(CelebrityAccess) — Controversial Florida rapper XXXTentacion may back on Spotify’s playlisting algorithms after the streaming giant partially backed away from its decision stop promoting artists known for personal misconduct.
According to a report in Bloomberg, Spotify was pushed to bring songs by XXXTentacion back to playlists following a public outcry from fans and figures in the music industry, including Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar.
Several acts, including Lamar, called Spotify boss Daniel Ek to express frustration at the streamer service’s change in content policy, and to threaten to pull their music from Spotify if they maintained its socially sensitive content policy.
Spotify also faced internal criticism, including from Troy Carter, the former artist manager who is currently Spotify’s artist liaison. According to Bloomberg, Carter threatened to leave his position at Spotify following the decision to remove the two artists from the company’s promoted playlists, Bloomberg reported.
Both Carter and Lamar declined to comment to Bloomberg on the story.
XXXTentacion, and rapper R. Kelly were pulled from the streaming services playlists last week after Spotify announced plans to punish artists for hate speech and misconduct. Kelly has been the target of accusations of sexual misconduct and statutory rape, though he has not been criminally charged.
XXXTentacion is currently awaiting trial on a slew of charges, including the alleged battery of a pregnant woman. Both artist’s music were still available to be streamed on Spotify but were not promoted in official Spotify-generated playlists.
Bloomberg noted that Spotify still has not officially changed its policy and said changes are still being “hammered out.” The report also noted that at least for now, R. Kelly is still a no-go for playlists.
