Spotify CEO defends ‘vital’ Joe Rogan in anti-vaccine mandate row and tells his grumbling staff that ‘there will be opinions and beliefs that we disagree with’ but they’re ‘NOT in business of dictating discourse’
- The comments were published Thursday as the firm’s stock dropped 16.7%
- Spotify has found itself stuck between its $100million flagship talent and a popular backlash over COVID-19 misinformation on his showsÂ
- Chief executive Daniel Ek told up-in-arms employees they did not have editorial control over ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’Â
- ‘There are many things that Joe Rogan says that I strongly disagree with and find very offensive,’ he saidÂ
- But he told them that ‘if we want even a shot at achieving our bold ambitions, it will mean having content on Spotify that many of us may not be proud to be associated withÂ
‘Not anything goes, but there will be opinions, ideas, and beliefs that we disagree with strongly and even makes us angry or sad,’ he added.
Spotify has found itself stuck between its $100million flagship talent and a popular backlash over COVID-19 misinformation on his shows.
‘I want to remind everyone of our mission. We want to get to 50 million creators and a billion users. And to be a true platform and achieve this ambition, it’s really critical that creators are able to use their voice independently. And it’s also critical that we have diverse voices on our platform,’ he said at the town hall.
‘We’re not in the business of dictating the discourse that these creators want to have on their shows.’
Ek’s comments were published Thursday as the firm’s stock went into freefall. The CEO told up-in-arms employees they did not have editorial control over The Joe Rogan Experience, which garners up to 11 million listeners per episode.
Spotify’s exclusive deal with Rogan does not mean the company agrees with everything its big-name podcast host utters, Ek said, framing the streaming giant not as a publisher, but as a platform.
The CEO explained that Spotify doesn’t have a role in editing episodes, removing guests, or preventing publishing of the Joe Rogan Experience. It only has editorial control over the properties its outright owns, like The Ringer and Gimlet.
‘A publisher has editorial control over a creator’s content — they can take action on the content before it’s even published,’ he said.
‘Even though JRE is an exclusive, it is licensed content. It is important to note that we do not have creative control over Joe Rogan’s content.
‘We don’t approve his guests in advance, and just like any other creator, we get his content when he publishes, and then we review it, and if it violates our policies, we take the appropriate enforcement actions.’
Ek explained that Spotify is unlike other media companies and doesn’t ‘fit neatly into just one category’.
‘We’re defining an entirely new space of tech and media. We’re a very different kind of company, and the rules of the road are being written as we innovate,’ he said.
‘I understand the premise that because we have an exclusive deal with him, it’s really easy to conclude we endorse every word he says and believe the opinions expressed by his guests. That’s absolutely not the case.’
Ek’s remarks reiterated the emphasis Spotify has put on its podcasting arm.
The company has invested $1billion in the audio space, which included acquisitions of Gimlet Media, Anchor, Parcast, The Ringer and Megaphone, according to Business Insider.
Despite the financial backing, Spotify shares were down 17 percent Thursday – as tech stocks dropped across the board.
These shares have been on the slide since November, but have been badly hit by news that its subscriber growth is slowing.
The drop also comes as controversy swirls over the mega deal with Rogan, who has been accused of spouting misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccination, either directly or through the guests he has on his show.
That led last week to a burgeoning boycott spearheaded by folk-rock star Neil Young and Canadian songstress Joni Mitchell, who asked for their songs to be removed from the platform.