Troy Carter Leaves Spotify; Rumored Angry Over ‘Hateful Conduct’ Policy

Variety is reporting that Troy Carter is leaving Spotify in September but will play an advisory role at the company.

Carter is the global head of creator services at Spotify, overseeing the company’s relationships with artists, songwriters, and record companies. He is considered a music management mogul and is famous for helping launch the career of singer Lady Gaga.

In addition to his work at Spotify, he is the founder and CEO of Atom Factory and co-founder and managing partner of Cross Culture Ventures. He has managed the careers of John Legend, Lindsey Stirling, Meghan Trainor, rapper Eve, and Charlie Puth. His forays into the tech world resulted in the formation of Atom Factory’s angel fund, innovation studio SMASHD Labs, and VC fund Cross Culture Ventures. Investments include Uber, Lyft, Dropbox, Spotify, Warby Parker, theSkimm, MOAT, Gimlet Media, Thrive Market, and ATTN.

Carter also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for The Aspen Institute and a board member for organizations including The Grammy Foundation, United Nations Global Entrepreneurs Council and the Franklin Institute. Carter served as a guest shark for Season 7 of ABC’s hit prime time show Shark Tank in addition to previously being named to power lists for Fast Company’s Most Creative People, Billboard’s Power 100, as well as The Hollywood Reporter’s Silicon Beach Power List.

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According to Variety, Carter is rumored to be angry over Spotify’s “no hate” policy which bans music of controversial artists including R. Kelly and late rapper XXXTentacion—both of whom had allegations of sexual misconduct or a tendency toward violence.

Troy Carter was the cover subject of the 2017 November/December issue of Black Enterprise magazine. He also was a headline speaker at last year’s Black Enterprise’s TechConneXt summit.

In an interview with Black Enterprise, Carter spoke of his experiences at Spotify. “It’s been fun. I’ve been an investor for five or six years and I’ve been inside of the company for probably 16 months or so. It’s like being a kid in a candy store because I love music and I love technology and I’m around some of the smartest people in the world that are working on things that I deeply care about.”

“It’s been fun to see the music industry that’s been the same for a hundred years finally feel like it’s moving forward with the rest of the world.”