A large contingent of Spotify employees vowed to stage a protest and/or walk out over the acquisition of the Joe Rogan Podcast. Inside sources say that quite a few episodes of the podcast are seen as “problematic” by large groups of employees at Spotify. People at Spotify who are staging the protest want more oversight and quality control handed over to them. Essentially, Spotify employees want to become editors and curators of the Joe Rogan Podcast.
Joe Rogan’s podcast is one of the most popular in the world, with 190 million downloads per month. The epicenter of his content is YouTube where viewers can watch the podcast with audio and video of the guests and host. Spotify, a billion dollar company, apparently has aspirations to become a mainstay in the digital content space. Their competition is stiff with YouTube, Apple iTunes, and Google Play dominating digital content. An ace up the sleeve of Spotify is leveraging themselves to attract talent with big bags of money.
Joe Rogan’s deal to sign with Spotify is reportedly in excess of $100 million dollars. This number is high but it makes sense because Spotify wants exclusive rights to the Joe Rogan Podcast. This means no YouTube videos in the future. The deal seems rock solid on a business level between Rogan and Spotify. There’s just one problem here… and that’s the employees. They are prepared to strike and/or protest against Spotify because of Joe Rogan’s presence on the platform.
A large contingency of Spotify employees want to essentially become editors on the Joe Rogan Podcast. They want episodes vetted and cleared before upload to Spotify. This group of rogue employees may also want to be consulted about future guests. If these employees are allowed to have their way, then Spotify would suffer business wise. Joe Rogan was averaging 190 million downloads per month before Spotify. Why would he sign an exclusive deal which would net him less views, then water down his content so he can lose even more viewers. It makes no sense for either side financially or for their respective brands.
SOURCES:
Spotify’s dilemma: Censor Joe Rogan or call his podcast free speech? | National Post
Spotify Employees Are Now Allegedly Planning A Full Blown Strike If The Company Refuses To Censor Joe Rogan’s Content | Barstool Sports
Joe Budden is taking his podcast off Spotify because the company ‘is pillaging’ his audience – The Verge
Who is Joe Rogan, the man who just scored a reported $100 million deal with Spotify? – MarketWatch
Joe Rogan’s most controversial episodes are missing from Spotify | EW.com
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