Podcaster Joe Rogan not too long ago described his program as an “uncontrolled juggernaut that I barely have management of.”
Picture:
Gabby Jones/Bloomberg Information
No matter else he could also be, nobody ought to accuse
Joe Rogan
of not being a group participant.
The actor/comic/podcast star issued an apology of kinds through Instagram late Sunday evening. The topic was some controversial episodes of his mega-popular podcast which have come below hearth for holding alleged misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines. The controversy has resulted in a couple of high-profile musicians, most notably Neil Younger, to take away their music from Spotify, which hosts Mr. Rogan’s program solely. Mr. Rogan added that he agreed with Spotify’s plan—additionally introduced on Sunday—so as to add content material advisories to any podcast episode that features discussions of Covid-19.
Spotify’s share worth shot up greater than 12% Monday morning, recovering the bottom misplaced final week after Mr. Younger introduced his intention to take away his music from the platform. It’s unclear if the storied musician was swayed by Spotify’s announcement or Mr. Rogan’s apology, which included a promise to “do my greatest to stability issues out.” The final tweet from Mr. Younger’s official
account was an invite posted Friday for his listeners to join
Amazon
Music and get 4 months free—three months longer than Amazon’s typical trial provide.
Spotify is because of report fourth-quarter outcomes Wednesday afternoon, for which Wall Avenue expects income to develop by 22% yr over yr and paid subscribers to rise by 8 million. If the ordeal has had any influence on the precise enterprise, it could be most evident within the firm’s forecast for the primary quarter. However even that is perhaps onerous to unravel, on condition that the primary quarter tends to be Spotify’s weakest seasonal interval for subscriber additions. Analysts at the moment anticipate solely 3 million internet new paid subscribers for the quarter.
However the controversy does underscore the danger Spotify has taken with its sharp pivot to podcasts. Mr. Rogan’s present was controversial even earlier than the corporate paid him a reported $100 million to make the present unique in 2020. However the firm has made unique offers with different doubtlessly divisive figures comparable to Kim Kardashian, Prince Harry and even former President
Barack Obama.
Spotify claimed in December that whole podcasts on the platform now whole greater than 3.2 million, and the free-flowing, unstructured nature of most means problematic content material can be straightforward to stand up and onerous to snuff out. Mr. Rogan described his personal program—the place episodes generally stretch to 3 hours or extra—as an “uncontrolled juggernaut that I barely have management of” in his apology video.
However there isn’t any turning again for Spotify at this level. Traders initially cheered the corporate’s podcast efforts on the understanding that podcasts are extra cost-friendly than recorded music. However, like different streaming companies, Spotify is in the end judged on the premise of the soundness of its general person base. The inventory has adopted different streamers comparable to Netflix into the doghouse during the last a number of months on worries that the pandemic pulled progress ahead from future durations. A battle amongst its stars—musical or in any other case—wasn’t serving to issues.
Write to Dan Gallagher at dan.gallagher@wsj.com
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Appeared within the February 1, 2022, print version as ‘Joe Rogan Controversy Underscores Spotify’s Podcast Gamble.’