Spotify’s Joe Rogan controversy deepens as more artists leave (Update: Joe Rogan responds)

Spotify's Joe Rogan controversy deepens equally more artists leave (Update: Joe Rogan responds)

Joe Rogan talking on a microphone, Spotify on a phone and Neil Young at a performance

(Prototype credit: Carmen Mandato/Getty, Kaspars Grinvalds / Shutterstock, Gary Miller / Getty)

Update Jan 31: Joe Rogan has responded to the controversy by posting a video included beneath. And we have all the latest developments in our Spotify controversy live blog .

At the age of 76, Neil Young may have started a revolution. Final week, the legendary Canadian-American singer fabricated headlines with his ultimatum to Spotify: "They tin can have Neil Immature or Joe Rogan. Not both."

Peradventure unsurprisingly, Spotify picked Rogan — a podcaster information technology paid a reported $100 1000000 for not two years ago — but if the streaming giant hoped that would draw a line under the controversy, it was sorely mistaken. Since Young's exit, at that place accept been two more high-contour exits: Joni Mitchell and Nils Lofgren.

The latter may be especially worrying for Spotify, because of his telephone call for others to follow suit. "We encourage all musicians, artists and music lovers everywhere, to stand with u.s.a. all, and cut ties with Spotify," Lofgren said yesterday.

"Music is our planet'south sacred weapon, uniting and healing billions of souls every 24-hour interval. Pick up your sword and beginning swinging. Neil always has. Stand with him, us (Joni Mitchell!) and others. It's a powerful action yous can all take at present, to honor truth, humanity, and the heroes risking their lives every day to save ours."

Even those who aren't actively leaving are raising awareness, fifty-fifty if just in a tongue-in-cheek mode:

If @spotify doesn't immediately remove @joerogan, I will release new music onto the platform. #youwerebeautifulJanuary 29, 2022

Encounter more than

Meanwhile, alleged leaked internal messages seen by The Verge have also put an uncomfortable spotlight on Spotify's policy around anti-vax content.

For some, it's the last harbinger with many people screen-grabbing their cancellation form with the words "Joe Rogan" in the "Let us know more about why yous are cancelling" box and presumably post-obit instructions for how to transfer Spotify playlists to Apple Music or another service.

It may be a drop in the body of water of the reported 172 million paying subscribers Spotify has, but it's impossible to know how big said drop is — or, worryingly for Spotify — could become. Indeed, Apple has been quick to capitalize on the situation, putting out tweets that Apple Music is "The home of Neil Young," and highlighting Young's playlists.

Spotify has since made its content policies publicly available.

The home of Neil Young.Listen to his unabridged catalog on Apple Music: https://t.co/sUGtz4JbB9 pic.twitter.com/YgRMygUqhiJanuary 28, 2022

Come across more than

Joe Rogan responds to controversy

In response to the Spotify controversy, Joe Rogan posted a nearly x-infinitesimal video on Sunday, which we have included here. Rogan defended two of the well-nigh controversial episodes of his podcast that included Dr. Peter McCullough and Dr. Robert Malone and said that "many of the things that we thought of every bit misinformation just a short while agone are now accepted as fact."

Rogan besides said that he agreed with Spotify's move to crave a disclaimer appear at the front of some of his podcasts and apologized by proverb "If I've pissed you off, I'thousand sorry." He pledged that he would "do my best to residuum out these more controversial viewpoints with other people's perspectives" and that he would "do my best to make certain I have researched these topics...and have all the pertinent facts at hand before I discuss them."

Will it snowball?

There'south a real adventure that this could get out of control for Spotify, and make its $100 million investment in the Joe Rogan Experience look like small-scale potatoes.

Just there is definitely potential for the streaming platform to tough it out, as well. It's no coincidence that the artists who have felt comfortable making a stand are of a certain generation that made their fortunes before the advent of streaming. No uncertainty the Spotify income is a dainty earner for the artists in question, but they're renowned plenty not to need the boosted exposure and have already fabricated plenty of money from the music game over the pre-internet decades.

Younger artists — the type who, on boilerplate, are more than likely to appeal to the median Spotify user — don't necessarily have that same luxury. Removing themselves from Spotify could be career suicide. Even if the amount earned direct from the platform is pretty derisory, streaming platforms indirectly drive sales of tickets for live shows and merch.

Merely that's non to say this couldn't escalate very quickly. The artists who have left then far are legendary performers often idolized by younger musicians, and if more than follow equally rumored, there could come a point where the question shifts from "why on Earth would you leave Spotify?" to "how tin you maybe stay on Spotify?".

If that point does arrive — a large 'if' but not impossible — Spotify may have to have a reckoning with the sunk cost fallacy and assess whether information technology needs to take a tougher line with its star podcaster. If the question becomes "podcasts or music," Spotify only wins if the answer can plausibly exist "music" or "both."

Freelance correspondent Alan has been writing about tech for over a decade, covering phones, drones and everything in between. Previously Deputy Editor of tech site Alphr, his words are found all over the web and in the occasional magazine besides. When not weighing up the pros and cons of the latest smartwatch, you'll probably find him tackling his ever-growing games backlog. Or, more probable, playing Spelunky for the millionth time.