Spotify CEO explains why he feels “good about where we are” amid Joe Rogan-Neil Young debacle
He seems proud of the misinformation his platform spread and the $2.1 billion market fall his company took
Aux News Joe Rogan
It’s been another banner week for the music industry and its leading parasite, Spotify, who’s built the world’s most incredible platform for devaluing artists. Last week, Neil Young, decided that he didn’t like sharing space with a podcast known for spouting misinformation under the guise of free speech. Despite it being a supposedly free market, wherein which people can choose to move their business if they’re disappointed with the service, this has led to another blip in the culture war between people who want a society where the misinformation can continue consequence-free and those who would like this pandemic to end already.
But we digress. Neil Young, and several other musicians, including Joni Mitchell, left Spotify because of its lax policies regarding COVID misinformation. But perhaps they haven’t considered that The Joe Rogan Experience is “the number one podcast in over 90 markets,” according to Spotify CEO Daniel Ek in a live Q&A on the controversy held with investors last night.
Ek, a music fan who owns a shirt with a guitar on it, first commented on the Rogan debacle last weekend, when he described the last few days as “notable,” before launching into his statement in all its “Facebook hears your concerns” glory.
“When we entered into the podcast space in 2019 with the intent to help modernize and grow the space for all types of creators, we assumed they will test and challenge our teams in new ways,” said Ek. “And there’s no doubt that the last several weeks have presented a number of learning opportunities. I hope you had a chance to read our response that address many of the questions received from creators and partners and employees and the medical and science communities. There’s still work to be done, but I’m pleased that Spotify is already implementing several first of its kind measure to help combat misinformation and provide greater transparency.”
“We believe we have a critical role to play in supporting creator expression while balancing it with the safety of our users, and we will continue to partner with experts.”
After his company’s market capitalization fell $2.1 million last week (likely worrying those investors of his), Ek finally broke his silence on the backlash and spoke to the investors directly in a live-streamed Q&A session last night, when he described the issue of spreading misinformation to millions upon millions of people during a public health crisis on a platform he owns as “complicated” and a time to “take a step back.” This week, the United States reached 894,000 COVID-related deaths.
“I know this issue has been top of mind this week, but I think it’s important to take a step back,” Ek said. “We’re trying to balance creator expression with the safety of our users.”
“Of course this is a very complicated issue, as I noted in my opening. But I’m really proud of the steps we took following the concerns raised by the medical and scientific communities. And it’s worth noting that both the content advisories on our platform, [combined with] content from physician and health experts which I talked about in my posts as well, push policies for creators that are already [beginning] to roll out.”
Ek continues to say that “we don’t change our policies based on one creator, nor do we change it based on any media cycle or call from anyone else.” Wow, so good to hear he has the integrity to maintain his loose policies during a once-in-a-generation plague. Tech CEOs really are the mavericks of our modern age.
“Our policies have been carefully written with the input from numbers of internal and external experts in this space,” he said, reminding us of statements made by Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other hubs of misinformation in what has been the worst years of many, many people’s lives. “And I do believe they’re right for our platform. And while Joe [Rogan] has a massive audience and is actually the No. 1 podcast in more than 90 markets, he also has to abide by those policies. So I think when you think about that and you think about the ad business, I have a tremendous amount of confidence.” Hell yeah, king. We are thinking about the ad business. I hope our essential workers in the ad business are hanging in there! We see you, we hear you, Noom ads.
What he’s not thinking about, apparently, are the company’s 400 million subscribers. Though social media has been flooded with tags like #CancelSpotify in the last week, Ek says that it’s still “too early to know what the impact might be,” but he “feels good about where we are.” Where we are is approaching a million COVID deaths, but sure, yeah, feels good, dude.
39 Comments
If someone is dumb enough to still listen to Joe Rogan, a disclaimer or deplatforming wont do shit to change that. What we need to be asking is why the hell is there such a big audience for this kind of bullshit in the first place? Hes just saying what he knows those cousin fuckers want to hear because it keeps his number up. I highly doubt he believes a single thing he has ever said. Neil Young just wanted to remind everyone about Neil Young.
“we don’t change our policies based on one creator, nor do we change it based on any media cycle or call from anyone else.” How about if that “call” is in the form of a bunch of people cancelling their subscription.
“How much stock do they own?” – Daniel Ek
Way I see it: if they don’t own stock and unsubscribe, that’s bad. If they do own stock and unsubscribe, that’s worse.
Correction: Spotify lost $2 BILLION not $2 million.Joe Rogan: $100 million: costs company 20x that and still probably rising.This twerp is probably a Rogan fan, that’s probably what this is about, but the $100m is sunk cost, and Rogan’s lies last week should justify giving him the boot because he’s lying to Spotify customers. Anybody with any integrity wouldn’t stand for that, but neckbeard musicshirt here thinks he can handwave it.
Wow, I didn’t realize that shadow on his neck was supposed to be a beard.
A Shadow Over Neckdar
Glad I never bought into Spotify.
Eeeeek!
These sorts of responses all sound exactly the same
…and your rocket car, don’t forget your rocket car..
And a plate of liver and onions.
And sleeping in a racing car. Do you?
Another rich fucking asshole parasite I didn’t want to know existed.Eat the rich.
Lol tell me how that goes
I don’t want to eat that guy. He looks very oily.Now, Bezos on the other hand. Sure he’s a bit skinny, but I bet slow-cooked with the right spices, he’d turn out great.
I wonder what “#1 podcast in 90 markets” means. What are the markets and what data is he using to measure that? I doubt they have access to data from every possible app or podcast source— is it only “#1 podcast on Spotify in these markets” which is a totally different and completely unimpressive thing?
Joe Rogan said it, so they’re taking his word.
The fact that Rogan’s podcast has been #1 on Spotify for a while has always irked me, but I kept telling myself that it was because everyone else was listening to things on Apple Podcasts (or hosted on podcast websites, or whatever) because I didn’t want to face the obvious conclusion.
I’ve mulled about cancelling Spotify, but it’s good for small/foreign artists that don’t really have a presence anywhere else.
Meanwhile…I always said he wasn’t shit.
Was he wrong, though? I’m not so sure.
Get sure
Okay. He definitely wasn’t wrong.
Uh huh. Big supporter of racism, are you, then?
What the hell? Go fuck yourself.
Hey, you’re the one who’s defending the guy who said the N word like a million times
Jon Stewart? No he didn’t. And you’re conflating two very different issues. Again, go fuck yourself.
Lol this desperate disingenuous, you know exactly who I’m talking about. Sorry you backed the wrong horse, I guess? But don’t take it out on me.
I don’t “back” Joe Rogan. I don’t listen to Joe Rogan. I don’t even like Joe Rogan, save for his work on NewsRadio. But I don’t necessarily disagree with Stewart that there has been some overreaction with regard to Rogan and COVID. That’s all.And take your holier-than-thou, Manichean, disingenuous trolling someplace else. You fucking suck. Seriously.
Hmm, you would think that the last 24 hours would make anyone rethink defending Joe Rogan. But here you are, like a brave little soldier. It’s really ok to admit you stepped into a situation without knowing what you’re talking about. But instead you’re angrier at someone pointing out racism than you are about the actual racism, which is a very interesting set of priorities.
The last like 4 times someone on these sites tried to tell us a recent “controversial” take of Stewart’s, they were complete misrepresentations. Is this one genuine?
If nobody likes what Spotify pays, then maybe the five (only five) labels should have negotiated a better deal. There are many streaming services. They could have looked at better deals. Also what is the cut of the record labels themselves? No one is complaining about that back in the day when an artist may not have made any money off of a cd sale and the label would have pocketed 100% of it, based on a contract. Each artist gets a different cut. Some don’t get any from any streaming service, no matter the cut. So all this talk of money is just bullshit. If they want to make money as musicians, unfortunately they will have to do it the old fashioned way, tour.
I thought shaving your head when you start going bald was just something folks who can’t afford Zemeckis-level hair plugs did
So this statement on Joe Rogan can pretty much be summed up like so:
Is he supposed to look like the guy from the Hills Have Eyes?
It’s a real choice for someone who resembles a giant baby with Down syndrome to shave their eyebrows off but keep the neck beard.
Profiteering off a public health crisis. Pure and simple. Didn’t this sort of thing use to be punishable?
What a charming young sociopath!
Okay Lurch, thanks for the update.