Harry and Meghan hit back after 'grifters' claims in 'talks' with Spotify rival
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry could soon return to the podcast world as they're reportedly in talks with one of Spotify's biggest rivals.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed an exclusive $25million (£18million) deal with Spotify after stepping down from the Royal Family back in 2020. However, the couple were axed from the streaming giant earlier this year and a Spotify executive later called them "grifters".
Harry and Meghan's Archewell Audio was behind the popular Archetypes podcast, on which Meghan interviewed a number of influential athletes, experts and artists about stereotypes levelled against women. It seems the show could be making a comeback as the couple's business advisers are in talks with Amazon-owned audiobook and podcast service Audible, according to a source.
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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are 'in talks' with Audible (Getty)
The Duchess of Sussex hosted the Archetypes podcast (Spotify)"Harry and Meghan are retooling, retrenching and preparing to change course in their efforts to establish themselves and their production company Archewell as serious players across multi-media platforms. Expect them to come out swinging in the New Year," the source said.
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They claimed Meghan's new Hollywood talent agency, William Morris Endeavor (WME), is "closely involved" in the talks. Speaking to The Express, the source also said Meghan has been in contact with some A-list stars to discuss joint projects they can work on.
The source said the couple will be hoping to "wipe out the monetary hit" they took when leaving Spotify. If the contract with Audible gets the green light, Meghan and Harry would be "obliged to offer any audio projects to Audible first, but would then be completely free to market them elsewhere if rejected".
The couple are hoping for a similar fee to their Spotify partnership (Getty Images)
Meghan is believed to have been in touch with some big name celebrities (Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation)Spotify's boss has now spoken out and hinted at why Meghan's Archetypes podcast was cancelled. The purpose of the show was to "investigate, dissect and subvert the labels that try to hold women back", but Daniel Ek has suggested listeners weren't as "happy" as expected.
"We thought new innovation was needed to happen here. We thought we can come in and offer a great experience that both makes consumers very happy and allows new creators new avenues," he told the BBC.
Daniel added: "The truth of the matter is, some of it has worked, some of it hasn't." He explained: "We're learning from those and we are moving on and we wish all of the ones we didn't renew with the best of success they can have going forward."
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