Spotify effectively married the appeal of a voluminous (albeit often pirated) peer-to-peer music library like Napster with the mixtape culture that has been a part of music fandom back to the cassette. Lost in this debate heated by the flame of its own dumpster fire is that no one, Spotify included, is talking about the company’s killer feature, what made it so popular in the first place: leveraging the cloud and the information listeners put into that cloud to create a better and more specialized music-listening experience for its users. Maybe this is an opportunity for Spotify to reclaim that value proposition. It chased what must have seemed like an easy user acquisition play in the highly lucrative bro market at the cost of not only cultural blowback, but also neglect of its primary value proposition. Now it has flown a bit too close to the sun. It wasn’t enough that Spotify changed how we listen to music, it had to change how we consume everything audio. The man was a stand-up comedian first, after all, a line of work that lends itself to easy cancellation (as witnessed by fellow tradeswoman Whoopi Goldberg).Ĭaught up in its ambitious and now possibly tragic goal of becoming, with apologies to pre-Rogan lightning rod Howard Stern, the king of all audio media, Spotify’s biggest mistake was going all-in on podcasts and chasing a market it apparently didn’t yet fully understand. The pressure on Rogan and Spotify intensified last weekend over Rogan’s repeated use of a racial slur, along with a few other inflammatory statements that cannot simply be dismissed with the counterargument of “context.” If that isn’t enough for Spotify to eat whatever money is needed to ditch Rogan, then surely the risk that other offensive material will be found in the archives of Rogan’s podcast or comedic output should be. The Zoomers don’t care and are scrolling through TikTok. Powerful millennials Daniel Ek and Taylor Swift, despite pleas from all corners, have opted for nonintervention when either could end the business scandal of the day whenever they wanted. He comes off as an inquisitive and nonconfrontational, but also politically incorrect, slacker-wing personality involuntarily thrust into the role of culture warrior when he would rather be doing MMA, DMT, or some other acronymic pursuit. The all-ages battle royale kicked off with Boomers Neil Young and Joni Mitchell utilizing that most 1960s form of mobilization and persuasion-boycott and protest-to try and get Spotify to deplatform Rogan. They released one earlier this month that examines some of the claims made in Rogan's chat with Malone.Also unfortunately for Spotify, the controversy is tailor-made for generational division. Wendy Zukerman and Blythe Terrell are publishing episodes that debunk misinformation being spread on the platform. The host and editor of Gimlet's Science VS podcast said they'd no longer make episodes of their show until "Spotify implements stronger methods to stop the spread of misinformation on the platform." There was one exception to that stance, though. Spotify has also faced criticism from employees over Rogan. Reports suggest Barack and Michelle Obama may not renew their Spotify deal, which is set to expire in a few months. Film director Ava DuVernay struck a podcast deal with Spotify last year, but cut ties this month before producing any content for the company. Around the same time, Brené Brown put episodes of her Spotify-exclusive podcasts on hold. Notable critics including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell accused Spotify of spreading harmful misinformation and pulled their music from the platform. Robert Malone made claims about COVID-19 vaccines on The Joe Rogan Experience that they called "false and societally harmful assertions." The backlash against Rogan and the company ramped up after hundreds of doctors, nurses, scientists and educators sent an open letter to Spotify in January urging the company to take more action against the spread of misinformation. Rogan removed some episodes containing that language from Spotify. Spotify has remained behind Rogan, even after his use of racist language on the show came under the spotlight. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek reportedly told employees this month that big exclusive deals such as the Rogan one helped make the company as successful as it is. Episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience can garner tens of millions of listeners. Rogan's show is Spotify's most popular podcast in 93 countries, including the US.
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