Bestselling author Brené Brown also announced that her Spotify-exclusive podcasts “Unlocking Us” and “Dare to Lead” would be paused in the wake of the Rogan-Spotify firestorm. This prompted other notable musicians including Joni Mitchell, Nils Lofgren, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and India.Arie (who left due to Rogan’s “language around race”) to follow Young’s lead. A couple days later, Spotify removed his music from the platform.
In the following weeks, folk-rock pioneer Neil Young amplified their message when he issued a public ultimatum, demanding for Spotify to either drop the “The Joe Rogan Experience,” or say goodbye to his music discography. The coalition called for Spotify to “establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform” to restrict potentially harmful content about the pandemic. It jumped 9.2% on Friday.It all started back in late December when a small community of medical professionals, scientists, and professors posted an open letter to Spotify in response to their exclusive podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience,” which they said had been promoting baseless conspiracy theories and misinformation about COVID. Spotify Technology’s share price fell 0.5% early Monday in after-hours trading. The company had 31% of the 524 million music streaming subscriptions worldwide in the second quarter of 2021, more than double that of second-place Apple Music, according to Midia Research. Musicians still generate the bulk of Spotify’s profits, experts say. Spotify reports having 406 million active monthly users, up nearly 20% from last year, and advertising has grown largely because of podcasts. “But I want to stress again that that’s a pretty big if, and I don’t know if it will come to that.” “I think that if Joe Rogan kind of learns from this experience and becomes a driving voice for that conversation, that could be really valuable,” she said. Wingfield said the controversy could be positive if it starts a shift to discussions of racial stereotypes. “He can say things that I think can move the needle.” “I do think that assembling this kind of audience is important,” he said. His audience may not hear the discussions otherwise, Wihbey said. His comments were clearly racist, Wihbey said, but he hopes that Rogan will see this as a chance to substantively discuss race and vaccine issues in future episodes. Rogan is an odd mix of shock jock and host who leads discussions of public policy, arts and culture, Wihbey said, describing his brand as conservative “bro America.” Rogan apologized Saturday for his use of the N-word on some past episodes. He said he was “deeply sorry” for the impact the controversy was having on Spotify’s employees. Looking at the issue more broadly, it’s critical thinking and open debate that powers real and necessary progress,” Ek wrote.
“We should have clear lines around content and take action when they are crossed, but canceling voices is a slippery slope. Spotify reportedly paid $100 million to exclusively host Rogan’s podcast, which now threatens the bottom line but is also a key part of the company’s strategy to be a one-stop shop for audio. The letter is the clearest indication yet of where Spotify stands on Rogan’s fate with the company as some musicians, including Neil Young and India.Arie, have pulled their work from the streaming service in protest and others could follow. “And I want to make one point very clear - I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer.” “While I strongly condemn what Joe has said and I agree with his decision to remove past episodes from our platform, I realize some will want more,” Ek said in the note.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek also said in a message to employees Sunday that Rogan’s racist language was “incredibly hurtful” and that the host was behind the removal of dozens of episodes of “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Joe Rogan has put Spotify in a tough spot, but the streaming giant is not ready to part ways with the popular podcast host despite intense criticism over his anti-coronavirus vaccine comments and use of racial slurs.