Spotify could withdraw from £18m deal with Prince Harry, Meghan Markle

Spotify may potentially withdraw from its £18million deal with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle due to lack of popularity of their first podcast.

According to media lawyer Ian Penman the streaming giant overestimated the couple’s popularity after their first and only podcast episode failed to impress.

"It would not be an unfair assumption that perhaps their popularity was not as great as maybe they or indeed Spotify initially felt," he said. 

"I think you could draw a conclusion that if [Spotify] haven't exercised the option on the next episode of the podcast, then maybe they did not have the popularity that either Meghan and Harry expected or indeed Spotify anticipated."

He added that Spotify could look into backing out from their contract if they no longer wish to produce more content with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

He told Express.co.uk: "It's famously the case in music deals, this goes back decades, that when people talk about a large deal, like Robbie Williams signing a deal for £15m or something, it does not mean he gets £15m on day one.

"So the problem you have here, I would imagine, is that when they talk about an £18m Spotify podcast deal, it probably means that they have signed their first product, in this case a podcast - they then have many, many options for further products.

"All those options are in Spotify's favour. Make no mistake, they're not in Meghan and Harry's favour.

"If all those options are exercised, and we don't know how many podcasts that relates to, it may be that the total money spent by Spotify is £18m.

"So, have they lost any money today? Probably, not a penny."