When Spotify signed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex with an exclusive deal reportedly worth about $20m (£15.6m) in 2020, the royal couple were taking their first steps into the commercial world and podcasts were positively booming.
How times have changed.
These days, Prince Harry and Meghan's brand has waned in the eyes of some and Spotify is reducing its reliance on the big celebrity signings and expensive original content that have weighed on its bottom line.
Meghan's podcast became one of the most high-profile casualties this week when Spotify and the duke and duchess's Archewell Audio announced they would be parting ways in a mutual decision.
It came after Spotify's deal with Barack and Michelle Obama's production company ended last year.
Spotify has let go hundreds of staff since that time, hitting the expansive podcasting division, a hotchpotch of podcasting companies it spent more than $400m acquiring just a few years ago.
On a conference call with financial analysts earlier this year, Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek conceded the firm had made some mistakes during the more than $1bn spending spree that followed its 2019 push to establish itself as a key player in the industry.
"You're right in calling out the overpaying and overinvesting," he said.
"We're going to be very diligent in how we invest in future content deals," he added. "And the ones that aren't performing, obviously, we won't renew.
"And the ones that are performing, we will obviously look at those on a case-by-case basis on the relative value."
Spotify clearly still has the stomach for some expensive partnerships. Last year, it resisted calls to cut ties with its controversial star Joe Rogan, who reportedly received $200m in 2020 for giving the streamer exclusive listening rights.
But Mr Rogan's show offers several multi-hour episodes each week, which reportedly command an average audience of 11 million people.
Meghan by contrast delivered just 12 episodes of her Archetypes podcast last year.
The joint statement announcing the split said the Sussexes and Spotify were "proud" of the material they made together.
And a string of accolades showed why.
Archetypes' debut last year hit the top of Spotify's charts in six markets, including the US and UK. The show, in which Meghan interviewed fellow celebrities such as Serena Williams, Mariah Carey and Mindy Kaling, also won a People's Choice Award.
But crisis communications guru Mark Borkowski says the show may not have been compelling enough when Spotify reviewed the numbers.
"It's always about the content.... clearly there hasn't been a big enough audience for it," he says. "If you can't deliver your fee, no one's going to pay it."
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