Spotify CEO says canceling Joe Rogan isn't 'the answer'

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By TOM KRISHER and LINDSEY BAHR

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.

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.”

“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. “And I want to make one point very clear — I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer.”

The letter is the clearest indication yet of where Spotify stands on Rogan’s fate with the company as some musicians, including Neil Young, Janis Joplin and India.Arie, have pulled their work from the streaming service in protest and others could follow. 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.



FILE - Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek poses for a photo in Stockholm, Sweden on June 18, 2009. Ek wrote in a note to employees Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022, that while he condemned podcaster Joe Rogan's use of racist language, he did not believe that cutting ties with the popular personality was the answer. Ek's message came a day after Rogan apologized for using racist slurs on his podcast and removed several episodes from Spotify. (Janerik Henriksson, TT News Agency, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-entertainment-technology-health-business-7e0a610a633987f32c9acc3ea14996b6

[FreepFryer]

1. "Douchebros gonna douchebro." (Nt)

[Alexander Of Assyria]

31. You can always Spot I Fy the fascists.

[sop]

2. It's not "the answer" if making money is Ek's only consideration.

[blueinredohio]

3. Where are you Taylor Swift?

[MrsCoffee]

4. Lol. What else would he say? He is an idiot and I'm glad to see him squirm.

Cancelling Joe Rogan is the exact right answer. Stop giving these fucking ignorant assholes a platform.

[FreepFryer]

5. Lol the only thing being "canceled" is Spotify subs. Let the market speak on Ek and Rogan. (Nt)

[Bengus81]

6. Hope all rock artists from the 60's and 70's yank their music with that BS statement by Ek

That's the only reason I've listened to and subscribed in the past.

[arlyellowdog]

7. We are going to eat our own

Stephen Colbert is on Spotify and my son, who never listened to him, does now. If Colbert cancels, millions don’t get counterbalance. Taylor Swift did a lot of good becoming an out and proud Democrat. Why cancel our own.

[Traildogbob]

16. Agree

You can get Fux on Sirius all day. And the Patriot channel……..🤬. But the CEO statement is sickening. Unsubscribe to Rupert Murdock America.

[BumRushDaShow]

25. "We are going to eat our own"

Spotify is not the only streaming service out there. TuneIn runs Colbert's show (I subbed to TuneIn a long time ago with a "lifetime" sub when it was still pretty cheap and they were around way before Spotify).

Edit to add an interesting interview with the TuneIn CEO from last fall before the current brouhaha - https://www.protocol.com/tunein-ceo-richard-stern-qa

Rogan is not "our own" either. Anyone continually laughing while spewing the n-word and calling venues with AAs "The Planet of the Apes" while continuing to promote COVID-19 misinformation needs his ass gone and if hitting a service in their pocketbook has a chance to make it so, then fine. People can always sign up again once the bottom-feeders are removed.

[AZProgressive]

40. I can watch Colbert on CBS

Stephen Colbert will be fine.

[yardwork]

8. I canceled my Spotify subscription. They don't need my money.

There are literally millions of other people who could be podcasters in Joe Rogan's place. Those people are being silenced instead of Rogan. Spotify chooses to elevate Rogan.

Spotify's argument is absurd.

[exboyfil]

9. Give someone like Al Franken a competing block

to address Rogan's lies and misrepresentations. Require a portion of Rogan's show be dedicated to adversial controlled debate (not allow talking over by muting mikes) with critics.

[mucifer]

13. I love Al Franken. But, he does not have the appeal of rogan.

[exboyfil]

15. Demagoguery is popular

That is why the Democratic party is always behind in its appeal to the "common man".

I threw Al Franken out as a suggestion. Someone like Senator Ossoff after he is no longer a senator would be my intellectual choice.

Your cold and intellectual types will always be behind the eight ball (Aldai Stevenson, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore). At least in Stevenson's case we got a reasonably good president. The other two - wow. Two of the top five worst, and who would have thought we would agree with Bush's "Miss Me Yet" question. Dukakis is also in this mold. So was Tsongas. Surprisingly Dukakis lost to another intellectual type (Bush I), but that is because Bush rode the coattails of the mini-demagogue Reagan.

At least Franken isn't a cold intellectual type.

[mucifer]

17. His humor can be pretty intellectual at times. Stephanie Miller would be a better choice

she has fart jokes mixed in with the liberal politics.

[exboyfil]

19. Well that is appealing /s

I prefer jokes like pander bear.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

30. The fascist appeal is strong in this one, yes...not to mention anti science and fact.

What next for Rogan…earth is flat, moon is a lantern in the sky?

My opinion, your fact…let’s debate on Spotify!

[Dr. Strange]

32. You don't need to give Franken "a competing block".

This isn't like television where programs have to be scheduled. There's nothing preventing Franken or anyone else from addressing anything Rogan has said, and then putting it on Spotify or YouTube or whatever.

Require a portion of Rogan's show be dedicated to adversial controlled debate (not allow talking over by muting mikes) with critics.

There's no way Spotify wants to start doing that to podcasts. (And Lord knows we don't want DemocraticUnderground to start allowing for "adversarial debate" from the right.) I suspect Rogan probably put into his contract that he would have control over the content of his show anyway. Which frankly, I would expect of anyone on the left, right, middle, etc.

[exboyfil]

47. Good point

I was thinking old paradigm and not the new. My idea wasn't probably even workable on television. I am in favor of more speaech and not less speech. So long as Rogan doesn't slander anyone, he has just as much right to say what he wants on any platform especially something like Spotify which has no barriers to entry as you pointed out. The problem is his audience and not him, and they are resistant to any sort of intellectual engagement.

[Duppers]

46. Or just give Al his own show to say what he likes.

[apnu]

10. Translation: 'We can't draw down that huge Rogan contract' (nt)

[zaj]

11. Moving him to his own website isn't "cancelling"!

The high school clown isn't having their freedom of speech attacked simply because they are refused access to the all-school PA system.

They are still able to tell their jokes outside of school or during lunch period.

[Walleye]

14. Exactly. Tired of these people whining about being silenced the whole time they're talking

[UpInArms]

12. Stupid ...

Spotify reportedly paid $100 million to exclusively host Rogan’s podcast

I hope they choke on their own bile.

[lark]

18. I deleted my Spotify and am exhorting my husband to get rid of his too.

He hasn't deleted it, but he also hasn't accessed it lately so guess that's better than nothing.

[Demsrule86]

22. If you hubs has music playlists he doesn't want to lose...he can take them to Amazon.

[lark]

23. Thank you for this suggestion.

I am very low tech so had no idea this was possible. He's more computer savy than me.

[hippywife]

29. Amazon's not a much better choice.

Amazon's just another shit company that doesn't deserve support. Someone below posted they've been moving their music over to Tidal.

[exboyfil]

48. Amazon Ultrad HD sounds great

Even on my relatively inexpensive $300 Vizio Atmos soundbar. I have a tin ear, and I still am enjoying it. Still the Vizio is an upgrade on my $50 Logitech system.

[John Ludi]

20. Eat s**t, Ek.

Making billions off of giving artists a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a penny already made me hate you...this is just icing on the cake. Get stuffed.

[samsingh]

21. who knows where ek got his investment and under which terms

[Lancero]

36. A good portion of Spotifys startup funds came from Thrive Capital...

Which was founded by Joshua Kushner, Jared Kushners little brother.

[BlueTsunami2018]

24. I'm guessing they didn't put a "morals clause" in the contract.

Otherwise they’d cut the dead weight. They’re on the hook for beaucoup bucks to this guy.

[Happy Hoosier]

26. In summary, " we're making a mint, and so we don't care that he is a toxic douchebag."

Fuck them.

Cancelled my daughters' subscription.

[aggiesal]

27. If he were CEO of ...

CBS we'd still have Jimmy the Greek
LA Dodgers we'd still have Al Campanis
NBC we'd still have Rush Lumbutt.

Maybe he should be CEO of nothing.
Please let us know what's the answer Loser!

[Javaman]

28. moving from spotify to Tidal.

slow transition. I had a lot of music on there.

I should have everything over by the end of the week.

then I will write a farewell letter to spotify indicating why I left and how I don't support racists or any company that protects racists.

[dchill]

33. Canceling Spotify IS the answer.

People who subscribe to Spotify are paying Joe Rogan. They can't say "None of my money is for Rogan!"

[dlk]

34. What Spotify means is turning off the money spigot isn't the answer

Their all or nothing approach to problem solving is completely disingenuous and pathetic. There is much Spotify could do, if actually so inclined, but the truth is their dollars count much more than American lives.

[PerceptionManagement]

35. Yea, yes it is.

^_^

[lagomorph777]

38. Cancel Snotify.

If you have a Snotify account, now you know it's another Putin propaganda purveyor. Cancel it.

[AZProgressive]

39. This canceling thing doesn't exist

As a poor person we have to deal with losing jobs but Joe Rogan is a multimillionaire and even if he lost his Spotify deal he would still be well off and likely to have offers elsewhere. It is much different if you’re working class or poor.

[womanofthehills]

41. He already has an offer from Rumble - 100 million over 4 years

Offer came out today

[ForgoTheConsequence]

42. Janis Joplin?

She's been dead for 52 years and her music is still on Spotify.

[Mawspam2]

43. The thing that made Spotify the dominant...

...music streamer was that they got buy in (literally) from ALL of the major distributors. This meant they would have more music than other other service. I started with Pandora, tried Amazon and a few others, but was happier with the Spotify catalog and interface.

I use TuneIn for podcasts, ota radio and sports.

Spotify is way late to podcasting. The exclusive Rogan deal is what Sirius did with Stern. Does anyone still listen to Howard Stern? It took SiriusXM a loooong time to make that obligation pay off, but technology has moved on. Satellite radio is dead tech. Even they now acknowledge it by pushing their app, however SiriusXM is not user-directed streaming like Spotify or Pandora.

Daniel Ek, instead of amplifying Spotify's strengths, is diluting its value to users and stockholders. People have listened to the same songs over and over for fifty-sixty-seventy years. Once you listen to a podcast, you never go back and listen to it again. Podcasting is 'one and done'. Music lives on.

As artists leave, so will subscribers, so will stockholders. Ek's desperation to keep the stock up is exactly what will kill it.

[rockfordfile]

44. Why would I care about what that CEO says? They have already proven what they're about.

[Martin68]

45. "No, I'm afraid the anything that negatively impacts our bottom line is not acceptable

as "an answer. We want Joe Rogan and the income he brings into the corporation."

["But, if the backlash affects our bottom line, we will change our approach."]

[JCMach1]

49. Rubbish... Taking money off the table usually works well,

Or at least kicks him to someone else's curb