Spotify can place ads within its own podcasts even for premium users, who do not have ads in between songs. But when people listen to Spotify-owned podcasts, there’s no third party to pay. When people listen to music on Spotify, the streamer has to pay a third party (usually the record label). It paid $340 million for the podcast network Gimlet Media in 2019 and nearly $200 million for The Ringer (my former employer) in 2020, as part of this blitz. Spotify started out with music, but it has thundered into the podcasting space, pouring hundreds upon hundreds of millions into a remarkably efficient effort to unseat Apple and establish itself as the premiere destination for podcasts. But say they did-and say the streamer’s current top four artists, Drake, Ed Sheeran, Bad Bunny, and Ariana Grande, joined forces and yanked their music from Spotify-even then, it is unlikely that Spotify would exile Rogan. Young didn’t actually have the ability to remove his albums, and had to get permission from his label to do so it’s far from a given that the major labels would do the same for their contemporary stars. First of all, there are practical roadblocks, as musicians are rarely the owners of their own music. Even if he got other artists on board to boycott Spotify, it’s unlikely any coalition would have the desired effect. No disrespect to Neil Young, but he was never going to move the needle here. This time around, it seems less inclined to rankle Rogan’s acolytes than it is to accept that a fraction of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young superfans who care about public health will be deleting their accounts. Back then, when it ported over Rogan’s catalog, it left out more than 40 older episodes, including interviews with Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes-and it faced a wave of backlash from angry fans for doing so. Spotify knew what it was buying in May 2020.

It gave him the money to be his freewheeling, contrarian, and almost constantly controversial self. (Young, in contrast, is the 778th most popular musical artist.) Spotify didn’t give Rogan a reported $100 million in a noble effort to spearhead a public health campaign. His podcast remains number one on its charts in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. But there is no evidence that this rancor has impacted Rogan’s position as Spotify’s golden boy. Yes, plenty of people are angry at Rogan, including the 270 health care professionals whose highly publicized open letter to Spotify about the podcaster’s content inspired Young. Spotify has been framed as a culture-war victory for Joe Rogan, but it’s not.

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