[seanf]

Taking on a hate content policy will be a big task. So much music, while being dramatic and theatrical, is open to a lot of interpretation as to whether it is truly hateful or just expressing a point of view in an over-the-top way. A song might honestly express strong emotion, in a questionably hateful way.

For example, will "Hit 'Em Up" by Tupac be removed?(https://open.spotify.com/track/0Z2J91b2iTGLVTZC4fKgxf) The song calls for violence and murder of other people and their kids.

Tupac, Biggie, and others around them were literally murdered because of their music, or associations related to their music careers. How can you argue a lot of their music isn't hateful? Should no one be listening to this music, is it wrong to listen to it?

It is Spotify's choice to host the kind of music they want, but this will be a difficult policy to enforce equally if that is at all a goal.

[namlem]

First of all, they're not removing the content, it's still available from the artist's page. Second, it seems to be based upon the conduct of the artist more than the content of the songs themselves.

[seanf]

In the R. Kelly case, that is true. I clicked into the linked policy and read that before reading the rest of the article. Spotify says, "That’s why we do not permit hate content on Spotify, and remove it whenever we find it."

The policy is aimed just as much at content as it is at artists.

Edit: This is the policy https://artists.spotify.com/faq/policies#hate-content-and-ha...