Last week, Neil Young told Spotify to choose between him or Joe Rogan. Spotify chose their guy, Joe Rogan, the one they have under contract for $100 million. Over the weekend, Joni Mitchell followed Young and pulled her music from Spotify in protest of Rogan’s anti-vaccine bullsh-t and his general Covid-misinformation vibe. This weekend, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex also made a statement saying that they’ve always cared a lot about Covid education and science, and they shared their concerns with Spotify regarding Rogan back in April of last year. The point is that Spotify has actually been feeling some pressure to do or say something about Rogan. Which is why Spotify CEO Daniel Ek made a lengthy statement about all of this – you can see the full piece here. Here’s are the biggest takeaways:
Based on the feedback over the last several weeks, it’s become clear to me that we have an obligation to do more to provide balance and access to widely-accepted information from the medical and scientific communities guiding us through this unprecedented time. These issues are incredibly complex.
Today we are publishing our long-standing Platform Rules. These policies were developed by our internal team in concert with a number of outside experts and are updated regularly to reflect the changing safety landscape. These are rules of the road to guide all of our creators—from those we work with exclusively to those whose work is shared across multiple platforms. You can now find them on our newsroom, and they’ll live permanently on the main Spotify website. They are being localized into various languages to help our users understand how Spotify assesses all content on our platform.
We are working to add a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes a discussion about COVID-19. This advisory will direct listeners to our dedicated COVID-19 Hub, a resource that provides easy access to data-driven facts, up-to-date information as shared by scientists, physicians, academics and public health authorities around the world, as well as links to trusted sources. This new effort to combat misinformation will roll out to countries around the world in the coming days. To our knowledge, this content advisory is the first of its kind by a major podcast platform.
Basically, Spotify is saying that they’re going to be more transparent about what their Covid policies are and how they expect content-providers to adhere to certain baseline standards about medical advice and scientific advice. As others have pointed out, it’s not like Rogan is merely off somewhere, producing content and Spotify is merely a content-purchaser. Rogan is the “jewel” of Spotify, and Spotify is literally producing Rogan’s show.
As for Rogan, Spotify got in touch with him and he made his own dumbf–k statement. He apologized – “I’m very sorry that they feel that way” – for Young and Mitchell pulling their music, and he says he’s fine with Spotify putting disclaimers on his show. He promises to make an effort to “balance out” his show and: “I don’t want to just show the contrary opinion to what the narrative is. I want to show all kinds of opinions so that we can all figure what’s going on…” He’s still committed to Both-Sides-ing the pandemic. As in, but what if Covid is a hoax to make money and what if vaccines are designed to kill us all?? One of his latest interviews was with UFC champion Julianna Pena, who said just that, and she based her comments on interviews Rogan had done previously with other bonkers Covid conspiracists. My point is that Spotify needs to deplatform him, plain and simple.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Jack O’Connell arrives for the 24th GQ Men of the Year Awards in association with BOSS at Tate Modern, London, UK,Image: 629912371, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: James Shaw / Avalon
Knucklehead.
Exactly.
Knuckledragger
FTFY
I’ll add “misogynistic sadist” to that.
I used to work out at a gym that has a couple of ufc fighters and some other pros not in the ufc. While there are a lot of very well educated people at that gym, some holding world medals in jiu jitsu (one is now a doctor), the majority of the MMA folks at that gym that are making careers in MMA, are conspiracy theorists. They don’t talk about what are the facts, they talk about opinions. ‘There needs to be balanced opinion.’ The majority of the people with professional degrees, doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists, and in some cases self made business owners, do not agree, but are generally quiet on the matter. The facebook pages of the fighters, trainers, and coaches are a constant barrage of covid ‘opinions’ and libertarian think pieces. I don’t mean to generalize. There are always cross-overs, but I’ve found that people who want to pound others for a living are more inclined to be a little cuckoo. The others that want to make a generally positive impact in the world aren’t spouting all this isht all the time.
ETA: I enjoy a good fight.
Let us also remember what steroid use can do in terms of amping up rage, and emotionally charged conspiracy theories are great targets for that rage. (Not saying all fighters etc use ‘roids, but it’s, uh, “not uncommon”).
Rogan quite obviously did. his cranium size increased as an adult, and that doesn’t happen without some kind of steroid or human-growth hormone.
He’s not just a knucklehead, he’s a POS that is getting people killed.
The thing about science is it’s not about “opinions.”
Exactly. Biology doesn’t give a f*ck about anyone’s feelings. Get the damned shot.
Not opinions but a lot of contradictory findings and “junk” science out there. It’s easy for even good scientists to let bias into a study.
But it’s not like he said he’s presenting different interpretations or methods. Opinions. The thing everyone has.
I don’t agree with the guy but that’s what a lot of media is-opinions. If you want actual science you go with peer-reviewed journals or studies and not podcasts by the loud mouths of the world.
@Equality – This is specifically in reference to the Covid vaccine about which there aren’t different sides or opinions on the effectiveness and importance of herd immunity.
relevant scientific studies on all subjects are peer reviewed. Checked by outside scientists in the scientific community. Important studies usually start with that disclaimer
Peer reviewed.
And even things that are peer-reviewed are sometimes proven wrong in the long run. Anything human run is never going to achieve perfection. I don’t know what all Rogan has discussed because I have never listened to him but I was under the impression that he discussed some of the alternate therapies and other things about Covid and not just vaccinations or herd immunity.
My point was that discussions of Covid aren’t relegated to obscure medical journals. Every mainstream publication and local government is a source of the most current information on how to not end up hospitalized. And let’s remember that’s all this has *ever* been about, keeping the hospitals from being overwhelmed. No one cares if Joe Rogan’s selfish ass ends up dead of his own misinformation. The issue is that Joe Rogan’s selfish ass shouldn’t be occupying a trauma unit bed that results in a less contagious but equally as dire patient being turned away. Every single person who refuses vaccines and masks on the basis of *freedum” is misunderstanding this point. You can die. That’s your choice. But stay TF out of the hospitals. (I don’t mean to be insensitive to the children and elderly who are put at risk by their own relatives; Just pointing out that the “freedom” argument is founded in a total lack of understanding of what’s even happening.) These aren’t “sides” or “opinions.” Just straight up stupidity.
@equality: no, it isn’t easy for good scientists to let bias influence their work. That is what makes them good scientists. Let’s not “both sides” this situation, especially when we’re heading into year 3 of a pandemic and there is a deliberate, sustained effort to undermine and minimize legitimate scientists and their work.
And his little Instagram video is full of lies. The CDC said back in March 2020 that cloth masks weren’t the best protection but they were better than nothing in stopping the spread and they needed people to stop hoarding the more effective masks because hospitals were dealing with extreme shortages. This is not new news, Rogan, and no, social media would not ban people for saying that.
If Spotify dumps Joe Rogan, he’ll be fine, he can join fox news streaming service. All this publicity is good for Joe Rogan. I’d rather people ignore him.
The scum at the Daily Wire are bending over backwards to impress him.
Both sides? And me idiot that I thought anti-vaxxer lies were just one side *facepalm
Good on Neil and Joni. They both had polio as children and aren’t going to suffer any foolishness. I hope more artists follow and Spotify feels the heat.
its all well and good bothsiding an argument, but he isnt having a debate where bothsides are discussing it at the same time. he is clearly on one side of the argument by his actions and his z pac. the problem is America is slowly working its way to 1million people dying from corona.
This right here. He’s a one man douche show.
If Rogan’s antics continue to negatively impact Spotify’s bottom line 💵💵💵, he’ll be dealt with.
The lawyers and the accounts are probably already running the numbers. A $100 million contract vs. billions in lost stock value? Which one of these is not like the other?
I agree with this. The fact he’s come out and said anything at all is damage control and an indication that stuff is going on behind the scenes. Not a fan of him, but the manfriend used to listen to him a lot a JR is not one to make statements like this. Either he’s dropping listeners, NY/JM are a big draw or others are threatening to follow suit (or all of the above). Either way, I’d place a confident bet he’s not as secure as he wants to make out he is.
Let me be very clear about who Joe Rogan is because he has been this person for decades, even when he was just on KROQ in LA: Joe Rogan is the 21 year old stoner burnout who impresses 14 year olds with his “deep thoughts”. He just watched YouTube videos on conspiracy theories, parrots the talking points and somehow people (mostly men) think he’s smart.
It has been and always will be infuriating that this moron is given any legitimacy by people who should know better.
It’s the spawning of wannabes that concern me. We have a copycat version of Joe Rogan here in Ireland 🙁
“Irish Joe” is an obnoxious DJ at a Classic Hits type of radio station, aimed at middle-aged men who grumble about foreigners, feminists, masks, vittue signals, you name it. Our far-right freaks love him & tag him frequently on Twitter like they’re trying to impress him.
Does Spotify has a legal basis to fire him because the guy is crazy and can turn around and sue them over it ? Also It has never been easier for companies to do performative gesture to attract their audience so the fact that they haven’t let him go means they’re not sure they’ll recover the money they’ve lost.
Rogan did push back on Pena when she made her crazy ‘COVID is a hoax and they’re all trying to kill us’ statement on his show but he followed up with his ‘people should be able to have a discussion’ crap when she shouldn’t have been given a platform to say that in the first place. A lot of pressure still needs to be put on Spotify but this is endemic of a much wider problem even in the mainstream press where there is an obsession with “both sides” discussion and arguing over facts and while claiming that it’s about freedom to express opinions.
You can have your own opinions but not your own facts. The problem is that it is commercially beneficial to allow people to behave this way because those who agree will tune in and those who don’t will complain about it and typically creating outrage has been financially beneficial as it increases engagement because people to hate listen and fight on the internet. This terrible week for Spotify and it’s valuatopm is a bit of an anomaly but one that I hope gets worse so that they will actually be forced to pull some of these episodes because a content warning is not enough.
I’m hoping Dave Grohl follows Joni and Neil.
me, too. Him and Taylor Swift. If TS left, I think they’d drop Rogan.
and it’s not like either one of them need spotify. they’d make up the lost revenue in other forms of media.
Could TS actually leave though? She doesn’t own half of her albums (the masters, more precisely) so I would imagine she could only pull her most recent albums. People would just listen to the originals left on Spotify and that’s surely not what she wants.
Agreed. Obviously, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell are icons, but I think it is going to take some much newer blood to push Spotify. Taylor Swift would be a big one. So would Grohl. Billie Eilish.
Strength in numbers here. Rogan may be the jewel of the crown, but even he is enough to offset lost of billions because of a mass exodus of artists and customers. That statement was to save face and save his job.
I would never work with or associate with this company. It is horrible. Like Neil young said All musicians to look into themselves and their moral platform and remove the music from Spotify Spotify doesn’t even pay that much but I stream the streaming service that he’s even more per stream is tidal
Rogan acts in bad faith — that’s the bottom line. By flattening out everything to “opinions” he erases the difference between facts that can be verified and baseless bloviating. And by saying he’s “just asking question” he evades responsibility for who he chooses to interview and what he chooses to ask (and what he chooses not to ask).
I deleted Spotify and used SongShift to move all my playlists to Apple. Took about 20 minutes to move everything, and I won’t be going back as long as Spotify chooses to bankroll Rogan’s show. Subsidizing what he’s doing to the tune of $100 million says a lot about what Spotify actually values.
Spotify cares about the fact that Joe Rogan gets the coveted 18-40 demographic that is predominately male, period. Whether or not someone chooses to vaccinate themselves, affects more than just that person. Their decision has lasting real-world implications for other people. I’m tired of people who don’t believe in science and facts acting as though their civil liberties, freedom, etc., are equal to someone else’s life. The act of consuming information doesn’t make you well-informed and listening to conspiracy theories doesn’t make you a critical thinker. Giving voice to both sides of the vaccine debate isn’t fair and balanced, it’s a thinking error that makes two things that are unequal, seem equal and it diminishes the importance of science, logic, and reason.
Well, if Rogan truly cares about his 18-40 demographic of males, he might point to all the studies that show a 6x higher incidence of erectile disfunction in men who get Covid.
That might actually be a fact they can get behind.
It’s quite spooky, chitowner, I was thinking about this murderous expounder of “opinions” this morning, and used those EXACT words to wonder……whatever has happened to REASON and LOGIC in this cockamamie hellscape/timescape we are currently living in? Suddenly it seems that FACTS and SCIENCE are open to individual interpretation! Uncroyable!!!!!
Murderous idiot
From what I’ve been seeing this weekend, this has been a tipping point for a lot of people who have thought Spotify unsatisfactory for a lot of other reasons. There are recommendations out there for alternatives which pay more to the artists and have better sound quality and for how to shift your playlists to another service.
If you watch clips, he’s not trying to show “both sides”. When he’s questioned by someone with legitimate facts he claims “That’s not what I heard.” and other BS statements like that. This guy is a joke. Spotify just doesn’t want to lose their investment. Hopefully more acts will pull their music/podcasts/etc. There are TONS of other streaming apps out there. Spotify can suck it
Thank you, Christine! This is a perfect distillation of what he does.
All Spotify cares about is their bottom line, which is why Rogan got the $100M deal in the first place. (I wouldn’t pay the idiot $20 to wash my car.) They won’t act until getting rid of him is cheaper than keeping him. I wish Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Billie Eilish, etc would join Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. Swifty wouldn’t even have to pull her music, just quietly threaten to.
I’m kind of disappointed in how dumb consumers are that they are taking health advice from the fear factor guy that had people eat bull testicles but here we are! Where did we go wrong where all these idiots have such a large audience? I’m not a genius and went to public schools and community college but can tell these people are getting money and clout by spreading lies and there is not proof of truth. How are so many people gullible?! And so many people I know and thought were smart are into this garbage. I just don’t get it!
This! So much. Was it his stint as the fourth lead on ‘NewsRadio’ that solidified his credentials?
The whole mainstream media seems committed to bothside-ism these days . It is increasingly dangerous