Spotify have started to respond and offer commentary to the swirling debate over comedian Joe Rogan’s podcasts on their platform. Firstly it was musician Neil Young, then Joni Mitchell, who said they have been taking their music off Spotify in protest to misinformation unfold about Covid-19 by the Joe Rogan Experience.
Now List ’re being joined by different podcasters and musicians complaining that the favored Rogan podcast is spreading “misleading and inaccurate claims” about vaccines and Covid-19.
Spotify has responded by saying that it’s now including a content material advisory to any podcast episode that features dialogue about Covid-19. The advisory will now direct Spotify listeners to a “Covid-19 hub” that may embody links to trusted sources, in accordance with the company. But they’ve been silent about their podcast star and his weekly podcast.
Joe Rogan made a video on Instagram today on his thoughts on the controversy with Spotify. He says the podcast has been accused of spreading harmful information, particularly about two episodes – one with cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough and the other with virologist Dr. Robert Malone. Rogan backed up each of the doctors’ credentials and mentioned he wanted to hear to opinions which might be totally different from the mainstream narrative. You can try the video HERE.
Spotify says they’re also going to publicly post their long-standing Platform Rules, hitherto unpublished, in hopes it’s going to make clear for all content material producers pointers for future material.
“These are guidelines of the street to guide all of our creators.”
CEO and co-founder of Spotify, Daniel Ek, says the company is taking critically the response from well-respected artists like Young and Mitchell, together with the growing protest from different content suppliers.
But simply two days after the ultimatum, Spotify started eradicating the seventy six 12 months old’s classics, including his best-known hits “Heart of Gold,” “Harvest Moon,” and “Rockin’ within the Free World.”
Even the popularity and respect for seasoned multi-Grammy winners like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, is not any match for the sheer size of Joe Rogan’s Spotify viewers – an estimated 10 million+ listers per episode. A week in the past Young drew a line in the sand over the deceptive Covid data and friends, left unchallenged on Rogan’s program.
“They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”
On May, 2020, Rogan announced that from September that yr, The Joe Rogan Experience could be available on Spotify in an exclusive licensing deal valued at an estimated US$100 million. Uploads of full episodes to his original platform-of-choice, YouTube, continued until December 2020, then this system was exclusive to Spotify only. Buthighlight clips and snippets are still uploaded to YouTube.
John Simson, director for the enterprise and entertainment program at American University, says all of it comes all the way down to business and has nothing to do with artwork or the artists.
“In the music facet of issues, Spotify is paying out roughly 70% of all the income that is obtainable in. It goes right back out as royalties. Final ’re looking for different locations where the income cut up isn’t that dramatic. Podcasts have been actually their go-to.”
There have been ongoing spats between, largely, musicians and Spotify. Last yr, rapper T-Pain shared a breakdown of what number of Spotify streams it will take for a musician to make US$1, pointing out that on Spotify it takes 315 downloads. Apple Music takes around 128 downloads to make the same dollar.
Meanwhile Neil Young is doubling down.
“I sincerely hope that other artists and document corporations will transfer off the Spotify platform and stop supporting Spotify’s deadly misinformation about Covid.”
Whether any extra musicians or podcasters will comply with is but to be seen. Especially artists with enough popularity or clout to make Spotify stand up and take notice.
For now Spotify is backing their hottest podcaster whilst hoping their plan to publish content pointers may be enough to make the issue go away.
We’ll depart the final word to Neil Young from ‘Leave The Driving’…..