Researched by: Sara Varghese 

So what happened here?

• Spotify has an exclusive contract with macho podcast host Joe Rogan to host ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’—which is also the most popular podcast on its platform. 
• It has been under pressure from health experts and its own employees who have complained about Rogan’s controversial views—on everything from transgender persons to Covid vaccines.
• The simmering tension came to a head when Neil Young issued an ultimatum to Spotify. He cited a letter signed by 270 doctors warning of “dangerous life-threatening Covid falsehoods”—saying: “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”
• Spotify picked Rogan, underlining its “great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators.”
• Young’s pal and fellow music icon Joni Mitchell followed his lead. But there has been dead silence from other musicians—and celebrities like the Obamas who also have Spotify deals. 
• Harry and Meghan did issue a statement expressing their “concerns” about Covid content on Spotify. 
• And Apple Music happily trolled Spotify by releasing a playlist titled ‘We Love Neil’.
• That said. Spotify lost $4 billion in market value as its shares tumbled after Young’s boycott.

The outcome: Spotify now says it will add Covid-19 content advisory labels to its podcasts. These will take listeners to a dedicated page featuring the latest information on the virus and pandemic.

Remind me about Rogan…

The 53-year-old is described by the New York Times as “one of the most consumed media products on the planet—with the power to shape tastes, politics, medical decisions.” His varied resume has included sitcom sidekick, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) commentator and host of ‘Fear Factor’. He’s found unlikely and astonishing success late in his career as a talk show host—first on YouTube and now on Spotify. 

‘The Rogan Experience’: is one of the most successful podcasts in America–-and Spotify’s global #1. It is downloaded nearly 200 million times per month and brings in $30 million a year—making him the world’s highest earning podcaster. Rogan typically hosts a wide range of guests—including Jack Dorsey, Senator Bernie Sanders, Robert Downey Jr…. and rightwing conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones—who called the 2012 Sandy Hooks school shooting a “hoax” on his show. 

Point to note: His following is young, mostly male, very loyal and increasingly global.

Here’s a quick rundown of all the times Rogan’s show has really pissed people off: 

Racism: This was his description of watching ‘Planet of the Apes’: "We walked into 'Planet of the Apes’…We walked into Africa. We walked in the door, and there was no white people. There was no white people." And here’s a handy compilation of all the times he’s used the N-word, albeit in the company of Black guests:

Transphobia: He has repeatedly disparaged Fallon Fox—the first openly transgender woman in mixed martial arts—saying “she’s not really a she” and calling her "a f**king man." 

Covid misinformation: Rogan delights in inviting anti-vaxxers as guests—many of whom have been banned from other platforms for spreading misinformation. He’s told young people not to bother getting vaccinated—and personally endorsed the use of Ivermectin (an anti-parasite drug) as a Covid treatment. While Rogan insists “I’m not an anti-vax person,” a lot of his conversations on the subject look like this:

Conspiracy theorist: As the Washington Post notes, “Casually questioning generally held beliefs or even outright facts—often while stoned—is part of his brand”—and it can include things like challenging the landing on the moon. This Daily Show spoof pretty much sums up Rogan’s signature style:

Point to note: As of April 2021, Spotify has deleted 42 episodes of ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ due to these kinds of shenanigans.

Why is this any worse than Facebook or Twitter?

The Joe Rogan controversy isn’t worse. It’s just different, and here’s why:

One: Spotify isn’t just hosting Rogan on its platform—as it does with millions of other podcast episodes. The company paid $100 million for the exclusive rights to his show. As one misinformation expert points out:

“If we’re thinking about Spotify five years ago, it was just a hosting service for audio. Four years ago, Spotify could say, ‘Well, you know, we’re just hosting this content.’ Now you can’t make that argument anymore because you’re paying Joe Rogan’s salary.” 

So unlike Mark Zuckerberg, Spotify’s CEO is inaccurate when he claims that his company has no editorial responsibility for Rogan’s content.

Two: Unlike social media platforms which are cracking down on fake news, Spotify does not have a publicly listed content moderation policy. And yet, in its response to Young, the company declared: "We have detailed content policies in place and we've removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to covid-19 since the start of the pandemic.” 

According to The Verge, Spotfiy only has an internal set of guidelines—which are hazy. More importantly, the company didn’t bother to explain why those 20,000 episodes crossed the line while Rogan’s have not. 

Point to note: Many have noticed that Rogan has actually become more controversial on Covid since he moved from Youtube—which has strict rules about misinformation. Asked about it, Rogan said:

“Spotify has asked me to change nothing. They’ve never—they’ve been amazing. I’m very happy with them. I’m very happy. Especially when you tell me things like interviews that you do get removed off YouTube. That’s not happening to me.”

So what’s my big takeaway from this?

Here’s what we’ve all learned from this Neil Young vs Spotify faceoff:

One: Spotify is no longer a music company. In fact, they don’t make much money from the songs you listen to:

“Spotify currently hosts over 70 million songs, with 172 million paying subscribers… Currently, Spotify makes more than 95% of its revenue from music. And there is the catch. Because it doesn’t own the copyright on the music, Spotify pays out over 70% of its revenue to rights holders (mainly record labels). Its gross revenue in 2021 was $9 billion but the company has never posted an operating profit (in 2021, they asserted a $658 million loss).”

Two: Spotify is, in fact, an “audio” company—a pivot it made back in 2020 when it started snapping up leading podcast platforms. This is also when it inked big content deals with the Obamas and Joe Rogan. As Recode points out: 

“Spotify is betting billions of dollars that podcasting will be a meaningful business, and Rogan is the biggest podcaster in the world. It would have to take much, much more than the absence of a legacy act that hasn’t released a popular song since 1989 to get it to change course.”

Or to put it more starkly: “In fact, the company loses money every time someone streams Young’s songs, which is why Spotify wanted to get into podcasting in the first place. It makes money every time someone listens to Rogan.”

Point to note: The Joe Rogan Experience is now the lynchpin to its entire podcasting apparatus: “A source previously told me that if marketers buy ads on Rogan, they have to buy ads on the rest of Spotify’s catalog, too, meaning Rogan’s success brings more advertisers to the rest of Spotify’s investments.”

Three: Now we’ve established Spotify’s revenue model, there are two ways to think about this ‘cancel Spotify’ campaign. One, Spotify is in the business of making money—and should be free to figure out how to do so:

“Spotify should be allowed to decide whom to do business with… And if that decision in turn sparks a wave of cancellations, with #SpotifyDeleted trending on Twitter, so be it… Most would think it unreasonable for Young to demand to be removed from a radio station’s playlist because that station also plays Trump fans Ted Nugent or Kid Rock—or even if it played Eric Clapton’s silly vaccine protest song.”

Two, even for-profit businesses have to value the public good. After all, that’s why we have environmental laws against pollution. Why should content be any different? And consumers who pay for its product should hold the company accountable if it profits from misinformation: “Spotify now has a very public problem on its hands, and needs to take a public stand: Are they going to put profits over public health?”

The bottomline: Y’know what they say about that road to hell—it's paved with good intentions. Here’s media professor Robert Thompson’s take on the Spotify boycott:

“However noble Young’s intentions are, Rogan is contained by a subscription wall. Spotify has distribution rights but Rogan owns his show. Fire him and he could potentially have even greater distribution than he’s got now.”

Reading list

LA Times has the best reporting on the controversy. Business Insider, New York Times and The Guardian have excellent profiles of Joe Rogan. The Telegraph (paywall), Recode and The Verge do a great job of explaining why Spotify chose Rogan over Young. Washington Post has a good column arguing in favour of Spotify, while CNN and The Atlantic make the counter-argument.