Is Troy Carter about to bail on Spotify?

Troy Carter, the former manager of Lady Gaga and current Global Head of Creative Services at Spotify, could be looking carefully at his career options right now.

According to multiple reports, the U.S. executive is poised to leave the streaming giant later this year, though neither party has confirmed or denied the claims and no timeline has been suggested for his departure.

The timing of it all appears closely linked with Spotify’s announcement last week of its refreshed “anti-hate” policies, which would remove the music of R. Kelly and XXXTentacion and potentially many others, from its playlists. Those new rules have been applauded, and chastised. Rapper 50 Cent has defended the rappers and blasted Spotify for what he declared a “wrong” decision.

"They're not even convicted of anything,” added Fiddy (who has his very own rap sheet which includes a youthful stint in a bootcamp after he was arrested on drug charges).

Many in the industry were blindsided when, in 2014, Gaga and Carter’s hitmaking relationship came to an abrupt end. Two years later, Carter left Atom Factory, which had Charlie Puth, Meghan Trainor and American Music Prize winner Kamasi Washington on his books, and jumped to Spotify, where he was handed responsibilities for the Swedish tech firm’s relationship with the music industry.

Troy Carter

According to trade mag Variety, Carter called an “urgent” team meeting with his colleagues to discuss the backlash to Spotify’s new policy.

Spotify could do without losing one of its key players leaving the company so soon after its entrance into public life with a multi-billion dollar listing on the New York stock exchange.

Watch this space and read more on Spotify’s new rules here.