Spotify CEO Daniel Ek told employees the company 'wouldn't be where it is today' if it hadn't moved into podcasts like the one hosted by Joe Rogan.
'There are many things that Joe Rogan says that I strongly disagree with and find very offensive,' Chief Executive Daniel Ek said at a company town hall on Wednesday, according to a transcript published by The Verge.
But '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 with.'
'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.
Comment: So the reason their stock is down obviously has nothing to do with the Rogan controversy, contrary to what all the headlines are suggesting.
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.
In response Ek announced this week that they would add a content advisory to podcasts about COVID-19, directing listeners to scientific and medical sources.
The Verge reported that staff had been eagerly awaiting the company meeting, with some feeling increasingly frustrated that Spotify was being driven by its deal with Rogan.
Ek told employees that podcasts such as Rogan's were vital if Spotify were to get its head above the competition in a crowded streaming field.
'We needed to find leverage, and one way we could do this was in the form of exclusives, specifically with voices like Joe Rogan's, the Obamas, Brené Brown, Dax Shepard, just to name a few,' he said, according to the transcript.
'To be frank, had we not made some of the choices we did, I am confident that our business wouldn't be where it is today.'
He claimed Rogan's exclusivity deal has allowed Spotify to differentiate itself from competitors.
'In 2019, our music and podcasting catalog was not that differentiated, and because of this, we were locked out of deals with some critical hardware partners like Amazon, Google, and even Tesla,' Ek added.
Spotify is the latest tech company to find itself on the horns of a dilemma that pits a controversial - and moneymaking - anti-establishmentarian against advertisers, employees and public outrage.
Last year Netflix was forced to walk the line between defending comedian Dave Chappelle and placating critics who accused the company of giving air to anti-trans sentiment.
Comment: See:
- The narcissism of trans activists 'protesting' at David Chappelle sums up how taking choreographed offense has become a plague
- Comedian Dave Chappelle won't blink: 'You will not summon me. I am not bending to anybody's demands'
- Netflix fires three employees who tried to force their way into an executive meeting over Dave Chappelle's alleged 'transphobia'
Much of the controversy was sparked by two recent episodes of the podcast in which Rogan spoke with an acclaimed cardiologist and expert virologist, both of whom were critical of the way in which the pandemic has been handled in the US.
But Rogan, 54, has criticized the American government and the CDC's approach to the pandemic since late 2020, speaking out against vaccine mandates, vaccine passes and enforced mask wearing, while cautioning healthy young people under pressure to get jabbed.
He has also been vocal about the government's reluctance to discuss any other potential treatments of COVID-19 besides the vaccine, and questioned why public health organizations have been so quick to encourage vaccine uptake without extolling the benefits of improving one's baseline health.
The JRE is Spotify's highest-rated show, with each episode bringing over 10 million listeners, and the streaming service cut a deal believed to be worth over $100 million in late 2020 for the exclusive rights to host his podcast.
The podcaster's detractors have long decried what they perceive to be an 'anti-vaccine' stance, accusing the podcaster of discouraging people from following government guidelines around COVID.
Others meanwhile have pointed out that Rogan's words are often taken out of context and that he is simply giving people access to views and opinions - often expressed by experts - that question the official narrative of the US government. Many have also argued that the media's attempts to discredit Rogan are tantamount to censorship.
These are some of the key sentiments Rogan has expressed on the pandemic - many of which have received considerable support - amid the long-running debate over the comedian and his wildly successful show.
CBS hosts say Joe Rogan doesn't have 'First Amendment right' to be on Spotify: 'It seems so dangerous' [Link]
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Clean air next.