The IT Nerd

I am guessing that Spotify must be feeling the heat because word has filtered out from a couple of sources that dozen’s of episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience have seemingly disappeared in the last 24 hours. The Huffington Post says over seventy episodes have disappeared:

Some 113 episodes of Rogan’s show have now been removed from Spotify, which is the podcast’s exclusive host, according to data from a website that tracks deleted episodes. (It’s unclear when the approximately 40 other episodes were removed.) That’s just a fraction of the show’s total number of episodes, which stands at around 1,700.

The guests on the episodes taken down on Friday include multiple comedians (like Iliza Shlesinger and Tom Segura), fellow celebrity podcaster Marc Maron, and Vice Media CEO Shane Smith. The previously removed episodes include interviews with far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and white nationalist Stefan Molyneux.

Spotify has been mum on the move, which comes after the company’s leaders spent days supporting the podcast host against an onslaught of criticism from angry artists and subscribers.

While this could be an optics exercise to say “see, we’re doing something”, I am going to guess that this might have something to do with it:

Among Spotify users, 19% said they have already canceled their service — or plan to — over the Rogan uproar, according to a Feb. 1 consumer poll conducted by Forrester Research.

The study also found that 54% of those who use Spotify have no intention of canceling their subscription, while 18.5% said they would considering canceling only if more artists who they like pull their music from the platform. About 8.5% said they thought about canceling their subscription but that Spotify’s features were too important to them.

So if we accept that 19% of people polled have already cancelled their Spotify subscription, that’s not insignificant. Though I will point out that polls should always be treated with a bit of suspicion. So you have to take this with a grain of salt until Spotify’s Q1 numbers come out in a couple of months which will tell the true story. Though if that is even half way accurate, Spotify clearly has a problem. But I would say that this is a bigger problem for Spotify:

Joe Rogan apologized Saturday for the many previous instances in which the host used the n-word on his Spotify podcast.

Rogan, already under fire in recent weeks after medical professionals and musicians decried him for helping spread misinformation on the coronavirus, posted a video on Instagram to address what he described as “the most regretful and shameful thing that I’ve ever had to talk about publicly.”

Rogan made the apology in response to a compilation video shared widely on social media this past week showing various moments over 12 years in which Rogan said the n-word on his show. The video was posted by singer India.Arie, who recently removed her catalogue from Spotify in response to Rogan’s “language around race.”

While Rogan argued that the clips were taken out of context, the comedian acknowledged that the video looked “horrible, even to me.” In a caption accompanying the video, Rogan wrote that there was “a lot of s— from the old episodes of the podcast that I wish I hadn’t said, or had said differently.”

And:

Listeners also noted that about 70 episodes of “The Joe Rogan Experience” were taken off Spotify.

Among the purged content is a 2018 appearance by Gad Saad, a marketing professor who studies behavioral sciences at Concordia University at Montreal. On Twitter, Saad said that, “if memory serves me right,” Rogan had used the n-word, “but it was not in a racist manner notwithstanding the likely minefield.”

Saad said that he did not remember the conversation in full, but that he recalled telling Rogan about a university dean getting fired after recommending a book with the n-word in the title — one, Saad said, that had been written by a Black civil rights activist.

“If you’re using the n-word to describe a title, as told to you by a guest on your show, then maybe Spotify should have the most minimal of functioning brain and say, ‘That doesn’t seem to violate anything,’ ” Saad said in a video. “Actually, in my view, it insults the dignity of Black people to say that they must be so emotionally fragile, that the mention of that word, literally in any context is simply unacceptable.”

Neither Rogan nor Spotify have given a reason for the episodes being pulled.

Now that we’ve gone from COVID mis-information to racism, Spotify really has a big problem on its hands. And simply deleting episodes and acting like the problem doesn’t exist won’t solve that.

In a stunning admission, the CEO of Spotify Daniel Ek had this to say in a Spotify town hall as reported by The Verge:

“A publisher has editorial control over a creator’s content — they can take action on the content before it’s even published,” he says, like editing episodes, removing guests, or preventing one from publishing at all. Ek noted that Spotify does have editorial control over the properties it owns outright, like The Ringer and Gimlet, but emphasized the distinction between those studios and Rogan. “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.”

Notably, Ek did not defend Rogan’s views. “There are many things that Joe Rogan says that I strongly disagree with and find very offensive,” he said.

He adds that there are a “number” of JRE episodes Spotify has removed because they violate the platform’s rules. (It’s unclear what episodes Ek is referencing, but fans noticed some missing when Rogan made the move to the platform in September 2020, and Rogan acknowledged their removal last March.) 

So this ties into an article that I wrote a few days ago. But the thing that I find interesting is that even the CEO of Spotify has problems with Rogan. Yet the service that he runs still hosts his content. Thus showing that this is all about the Benjamins for him. Or put another way, Spotify paid Rogan something around $100 million in hopes that he would help Spotify turn a profit on a consistent basis. So Ek is going to ride that horse as long as he can do so because he really has no plan B. I also find it interesting that when Rogan made the move to Spotify, some of his episodes disappeared. Thus it’s clear that Spotify knew what they were getting when they signed Rogan. And this is clearly unsettling to Spotify employees:

For some employees, though, Ek and the team’s sentiments rang hollow. Throughout the town hall, they messaged internally, according to screenshots viewed by The Verge, expressing disappointment with the choice Spotify made in not only signing Rogan but also in defending him. They questioned how the company considers itself a platform while still actively promoting JRE and including its logo on the cover art and how what some consider an ethical issue is being put in pure business terms.

I take that to mean that Ek’s problems are multifaceted. As in he has to deal with external forces as well as his own employees protesting about Joe Rogan. That’s not a good place to be if you’re Ek. And it’s also a sure sign that you might be on the wrong side of this, and that you should be reconsidering your choices when it comes to this.

Spotify reported their Q4 numbers and they lost money, which didn’t surprise Wall Street. Though they beat Wall Street estimates.

Spotify (SPOT) reported fourth quarter financial results on Wednesday that beat Wall Street expectations — although the stock plunged after the company gave weak guidance on monthly active users for Q1 2022. 

Here is how Spotify performed this quarter, compared to analyst expectations, according to Bloomberg consensus estimates:

• Revenue: $3.025 billion (+24% Y/Y, +8% Q/Q) versus $2.98 billion expected 
• Adjusted loss per share: -$0.23 versus -$0.44 expected 

Premium revenue came in at $2.58 billion — up over 22% — whereas ad-supported revenue came in at $443 million. 

And what isn’t going to help this situation is the fact that in after-hours trading after reporting these results, Spotify’s stock — which historically has been highly volatile — fell as much as 22%. As of 5:35 p.m. ET, shares were trading down 11%.

Oh but it gets worse.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting on a meeting that Spotify CEO Daniel Ek had with employees. Which of course was leaked to the times:

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek told employees Wednesday morning that the streaming service doesn’t closely supervise controversial podcast host Joe Rogan because the company sees itself as a platform to distribute Rogan’s show rather than as Rogan’s publisher, according to two employees who listened to the remarks.

Ek told employees at a livestreamed company town hall that “Spotify doesn’t approve Rogan’s guest list, they don’t look at his content until it goes up, and so they don’t have editing power,” recounted one employee, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. “They just look at it after it’s already on the platform and remove it if it doesn’t meet guidelines.”

At the employee town hall, both Ek and chief content and advertising business officer Dawn Ostroff “repeatedly used the phrase ‘if we were a publisher,’ very strongly implying we are not a publisher, so we don’t have editorial responsibility” for Rogan’s show, said a second Spotify employee who listened to the remarks — and who, like some Spotify employees listening, found the executives’ position “a dubious assertion at best.” 

In a chat linked to the town hall livestream, “A large portion of the angry comments were about how Spotify’s exclusive with Rogan means it’s more than just a regular platform,” said one employee.

Now this is a similar argument that Facebook/Meta used when they got into trouble about what was on their “platform”. Because if they are a “platform” they have a certain amount of legal cover to work with. The thing is that really didn’t help Facebook/Meta then. And I don’t expect it to help Spotify now.

Another tidbit from that came out of today’s events is this:

Rogan’s is the No. 1 podcast in more than 90 markets, Ek told investors on an earnings call on Wednesday.

That explains why at least to this point Spotify is willing to let artists go from their platform. But I wonder if they will continue to take that view if they don’t make money. After all, they’re in business to make a buck and investors will get cranky if they don’t.

Today Spotify was to announce their earnings right after the market closes. But more bad news has popped up for them.

Up until now, music from Crosby, Still, Nash and Young as a band have been available on Spotify even though Young and Nash have pulled their individual catalogs from Spotify. Now it looks like the whole band is gone from the platform. That’s going to make the discussions between Spotify and analysts very interesting in about half an hour or so.

This should be fun to watch. Watch this space for more news on this.

This protest against Spotify appears to be gaining steam. The latest person to pull content from Spotify is Mary Trump who is the niece of Donald Trump. She made the announcement on Twitter:

Ms Trump has been a vocal critic of individuals spreading harmful misinformation about Covid-19. And that includes her own uncle.

Anyone want to take bets as to who will be next to leave Spotify?

UPDATE: Mary Trump just dropped this Tweet:

Ouch. That’s going to leave a mark.

Continuing a trend of news that is not all that positive for Spotify, The White House has added it’s $0.02 worth to the conversation:

The White House is joining the debate about coronavirus misinformation on streaming platform Spotify, insisting that more needs to be done to ensure Americans get accurate information about the pandemic. 

Press secretary Jen Psaki called it a “positive step” that Spotify had decided to add disclaimers about covid misinformation in response to criticism from medical professionals and musicians that some content, in particular from provocative podcaster Joe Rogan, spreads false information about the coronavirus and vaccines.

“Our hope is that all major tech platforms and all major news sources, for that matter, be responsible and be vigilant to ensure the American people have access to accurate information on something as significant as covid-19,” Psaki said Tuesday. “That certainly includes Spotify.” 

“So this disclaimer, it’s a positive step, but we want every platform to continue doing more to call out misinformation and disinformation while also uplifting accurate information,” she added.

Keep in mind that what Spotify did was say that it would do this:

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. 

So it’s up to people when they see the advisory to seek out information. You’ll note that the Press Secretary said this:

So this disclaimer, it’s a positive step, but we want every platform to continue doing more to call out misinformation and disinformation while also uplifting accurate information,” she added.

So the way I read this is that what Spotify is doing is a start but they need to do more. Which to be frank they do need to do more. Because simply sticking a warning on a podcast is not good enough. And that is illustrated by another artist leaving Spotify:

Roxane Gay is a writer and social commentator. And given that she has the verified tag from Twitter, she’s anything but obscure. And I’m not so sure about her comment about not moving the needle. Every time someone leaves Spotify, it’s news. The sort of news that Spotify doesn’t want out there because it keeps this story in the news.

It will be interesting to see who’s next to bail from Spotify. And who else makes a comment about this.

This simply isn’t getting any better for Spotify. Actress Rosanna Arquette is the latest to pull her content from Spotify. She announced this via Twitter:

This perhaps isn’t a surprise as Arquette is pretty political. But it continues to underline that this controversy is not going away. Which means that Spotify has a growing problem on its hands.

Anyone want to take bets on who will be next to dump Spotify?

This just keeps getting worse for Spotify. News is breaking that two more artists have decided to pull their music from Spotify. The first is India Arie who announced this on Instagram:

That’s a pretty damming commentary on Spotify that I wonder if or how the company will respond to. The second is Graham Nash. That’s not a surprise as he was a member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young with the Young being Neil Young. The guy who started this exodus from Spotify. And like India Arie, he took to Instagram to tell the world.

This is on top of Brené Brown deciding to “pause” her podcast which is exclusive to Spotify.

This is not getting better for Spotify which underlines the fact that Spotify has a serious problem on its hands. And at some point if this mass exodus gets big enough, or people “pause” posting content on the platform, Spotify will have to make a really hard choice which they clearly don’t want to make.

This is getting very interesting.

If you’re mad about the way that Spotify is dealing with the Joe Rogan fiasco and want to cancel the plan that you pay for which is known as their premium plan, Spotify doesn’t make it easy for you. So after a few of my clients emailed me for help, I figured that I would put together this quick primer on how to do that. You’ll need a web browser to do this:

• Navigate to Spotify’s website. 
• Go to your Spotify account page
• Tap on Account overview and scroll down.
• Select Change plan. Scroll down the entire page of available plans and select Cancel Premium. Spotify will ask if you’re sure. Select Yes, cancel.

That’s pretty much it. But before you cancel you have to ask yourself if you want to move your playlists to another streaming service. If you do want to take your playlists with you to say Apple Music or Tidal, you should check out this primer that details some options on how to do that. Then you can cancel your Spotify account.

Now if you’re Spotify, you must have thought that things were improving today. Joe Rogan took to Instagram to sort of apologize for the firestorm that he created. And their stock is up after tanking and wiping out at least $2 billion dollars in market cap last week. Plus Spotify put out a kind of lame response as well. But overall, things were improving today.

Not so fast. Spotify is now facing this curveball:

Fans of Taylor Swift are calling on the pop superstar to pull her music from Spotify in solidarity with other musicians over the Joe Rogan podcast furor.

And:

As a growing number of stars share their collective stance in no uncertain terms, eyes have now turned to “Shake It Off” singer Swift.

Adding Madonna and Adele’s name to the list of powerhouse stars who could potentially make Spotify sit up and listen, writer and director Peter Paige stated on Twitter it was a “really bad call” on the platform’s part to stick with Rogan.

“Hey @Spotify – bad call. Really bad call,” Paige wrote. “Choosing the side of disinformation in the middle of a GLOBAL PANDEMIC. Wow. I hope other artists -@taylorswift13 @Adele @Madonna – will align themselves with Neil Young.”

Noting Swift’s sizable fanbase, journalist Carlos Maza tweeted: “The way Taylor Swift could end Joe Rogan with a single tweet at Spotify… what is the hold up.”

Another fan called on Swift to “punish” Spotify for sticking with hugely popular podcast host Rogan by “ditching” the platform.

Wrote the fan: “Who else thinks it would be AMAZING for Taylor Swift to punish Spotify by DITCHING them for choosing Joe Rogan’s Covid lies over Neil Young’s music? RT so @taylorswift13 hears you!”

Also adding the names of other chart-topping musicians, another Twitter user said: “I’d like to see Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry join Neil Young & Joni Mitchell in leaving Spotify. It’s time to put the nail in the coffin. #GoodbyeSpotify.”

Forget Taylor Swift, if one or more of the artists mentioned above were to pull their music from Spotify, it could be an extinction level crisis for the company. And keep in mind that Swift did once pull her music from Spotify in protest over how they compensate artists. And she’s also criticized Apple Music for the same thing who then promptly altered how they pay artists. So it is possible that she would do it again if she felt in her interest to do so. And if she did go ahead with that, expect other artists to follow. Because it’s hard to be the first person to do something, but if you’re the second, third or fourth person, it becomes easier to do that same something.

This should be fun to watch.