Carter threatened to leave, according to the tipsters, but he decided to stay put after promises of reform from Ek. There's no talk of restoring R. Kelly's music.

The parties involved have declined to comment so far. However, the incident illustrates the gray areas involved with Spotify's new policy. At what point does an artist's off-stream conduct go too far, for example? And can these artists do anything to restore trust (such as XXXTentacion's donation to domestic violence prevention programs)? While Spotify doesn't want to be seen as tacitly ignoring or endorsing horrific acts, there's a concern the policy is too subjective and could be prone to racism or other forms of bias.