Since its launch in 2006, Spotify has been no stranger to controversy. Currently, the company is facing backlash due to their decision to stand behind one of their creators, Joe Rogan. As people examine Spotify due to Rogan’s recent comments, a lot of questions are being asked regarding censorship, freedom of opinion and racism online.
Rogan, a comedian and Ultimate Fighting Championship commentator, has been making his “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast since 2009 and signed a deal with Spotify worth more than $100 million in 2020. The podcaster has been in hot water for some episodes on his podcast containing “dangerous misinformation” and is also being labeled a racist. Recently, a compilation video displayed Rogan using the n-word over 20 times across the span of 12 years in his podcast. A clip also resurfaced with Rogan describing a Black neighborhood as the “Planet of the Apes.” Rogan’s defense is these comments and usage of the slur were years ago and the compilation provides no context, but he knows how wrong it was.
Rogan prompted a defense by saying these clips have existed for years, so why are they resurfacing now? He believes it is an attempt to stop him from going against traditional media’s narrative, especially around COVID-19. Rogan has stated he wants to have open and free conversations and has hosted a plethora of guests to stimulate entertaining content. At the end of the day, Rogan is producing entertainment, not news.
The episodes in question, launching the recent backlash, are from December 2021. In one episode, Rogan talked with Dr. Peter McCullough and in the other one, Dr. Robert Malone. McCullough, a cardiologist and former vice chief of internal medicine at Baylor University Medical Center, and Malone, a virologist, have both been vocal opponents of the COVID-19 vaccine and have questioned the efficacy of vaccines.
Rogan said in an Instagram apology, “I do not know if they’re right. I am not a doctor; I am not a scientist. I am a person who sits down and talks to people and has conversations with them. Do I get things wrong? Absolutely, I get things wrong, but I try to correct them.” He added, “I am interested in having interesting conversations with people who have different opinions.”
He admitted in his apology, if there’s something he could do better, it’s having expert guests on episodes right after the more controversial ones. Though not directly proceeding the controversial doctors, Rogan has featured Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the medical correspondent for CNN, Dr. Michael Osterholm, the director for the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, and Dr. Peter Hotez, Dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine on his show.
Spotify, in response to all the backlash against Rogan, deleted over 70 episodes from his show and added a disclaimer to some episodes regarding the COVID-19 information within those certain episodes. Spotify has chosen to stand behind their creator, with CEO Daniel Ek stating, “canceling voices is a slippery slope.” Rogan, feeling the support from Spotify, chose to stay with them even when an offer was made to transition to another platform called Rumble. They offered him $100 million if he transitioned to their service and promised no deleted episodes or censorship.
“The Joe Rogan Experience” is the streaming platform’s number one podcast. Rogan reaches approximately 11 million listeners per episode, three to four episodes a week.
Several creators on the platform have been outraged by Spotify’s defense of Rogan, such as musician Neil Young, who has removed all of his music from the platform. Performers Joni Mitchell and Crosby, Stills and Nash have also removed their music. Spotify users are even canceling their subscription, with a spike in 196% in traffic to the Spotify cancelation page.
Smaller creators have joined in the conversation, frustrated that Spotify will stand behind a controversial creator just for money. In response to the controversy, CEO Daniel Ek said he would commit over an unspecified amount of time $100 million to promote “licensing, development, and marketing of music … and audio content from historically marginalized groups.”
Spotify is notorious for undercompensating their artists, with exception to big names like Joe Rogan of course. Due to the nature of streaming on Spotify, consumers don’t purchase individual songs or albums, so Spotify pays royalties based on an artist’s market share. The market share is the number of streams for their songs compared to the total songs streamed through the platform. So, if you’re a small creator, your market share would be incredibly smaller than a big name, and thus your royalties would be incredibly smaller. Spotify also pays 70% of its earnings to the to rights holders, who have their individual contracts with their artists. Record labels are then able to keep most of those Spotify earnings. The system has been scrutinized for years.
Spotify is no stranger to controversy, and, thanks to Rogan, many questions are being asked. Censorship, cancelation, artist compensation, freedom of opinion and rampant online racism are huge discussions, but are they conversations Spotify actually cares about is another question.
Photo courtesy of Omid Armin at Unsplash