Spotify is reversing its policy on “hate conduct” and allowing music from artist R. Kelly to return to playlists.
{mosads}The music streaming company wrote in a post Friday that it believed it failed to properly roll out the policy.
The policy was introduced in May, allowed the company to remove artists from playlists for problematic behavior, even if that behavior was not reflected in their music.
At the time, the company removed music from artists like R. Kelly, XXXTentacion and Tay-K from playlists that it maintains in its app.
R. Kelly has faced a slew of disturbing allegations that he abused women. XXXTentacion was charged with assaulting his pregnant former girlfriend. Tay-K is facing multiple murder charges.
On Friday, Spotify explained the decision to revise the policy.
“We created concern that an allegation might affect artists’ chances of landing on a Spotify playlist and negatively impact their future. Some artists even worried that mistakes made in their youth would be used against them,” Spotify said.
The company said they did not want to “play judge and jury.”
Spotify said that because of differences across cultures and its desire to not “regulate artists” it would stop implementing policies regarding artist behavior.
“We rolled this out wrong and could have done a much better job,” said Spotify CEO Daniel Ek on Thursday during Recode’s Codecon.