Spotify pays artists and songwriters a fraction of a penny for a stream, and now you’re mad? It takes about 250 streams just to get them to one dollar and now you’re mad?
Nevertheless, here we are…
Of course, Joe Rogan and Spotify have been the talk of the town lately after Neil Young and then subsequently, Joni Mitchell, asked Spotify to remove their music if they were going to continue to let Joe Rogan podcast. Citing the “dangerous spread of misinformation,” Neil and Joni take issue particularly with Rogan’s podcasts relating to COVID-19.
Spotify said that they would add a disclaimer on any podcast that discussed COVID-19, however they also added that nothing Joe has done violates their platform rules.
And then last night, Rogan issued a lengthy video statement on Instagram, thanking Spotify and his fans for supporting him, while also apologizing for the firestorm that this has created.
“I want to thank Spotify for being so supportive during this time and I’m very sorry that this is happening to them and that they’re taking so much heat from it.”
He added that he wasn’t mad at Neil Young or Joni Mitchell, but ultimately that the goal of his podcast is to bring a number of different perspectives and opinions to the table and have open and engaging conversations.
He also clarified that his podcasts with Dr. Peter McCullough and Dr. Robert Malone are the two most controversial ones, however he’s had podcasts with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Dr. Rhonda Patrick, Dr. Michael Osterholm, and Dr. Peter Hotez… all of which who supported the use of the COVID vaccines.
And finally, he defended the free expression of ideas citing how throughout the pandemic opinions that would’ve previously got you banned from Twitter (lab leak theory for example) are now accepted as fact. It was also previously believed that of you were vaccinated, you couldn’t catch COVID, that has proven to be untrue.
“I’m not trying to promote misinformation, I’m not trying to be controversial. I’ve never tried to do anything with this podcast other than to just talk to people.”
Ultimately, Joe said he was in favor of adding the COVID disclaimer and that he would try to book opposing viewpoints closer together with controversial figures to provide a timely forum for opposing viewpoints.
“I’m going to do my best, in the future, to balance things out…I’m going to do my best. But my point of doing this, always, is just to create interesting conversations and ones that I hope people enjoy.”
The whole video is worth the watch, especially if you’ve never listened to a second of Joe’s podcast and rely solely on the morally superior outrage of Twitter for your news.
Either way, at 11 million listeners per episode… Joe Rogan ain’t going nowhere.
