The platform preferred to take Joe Rogan’s side in the dispute between the two artists.
The platform finally decided in favor of Joe Rogan. Since yesterday, Spotify was targeted by an ultimatum from singer Neil Young. The latter indeed wanted to remove Joe Rogan’s podcast from the musical social network. The Joe Rogan Experience, under penalty of himself leaving the premises. A decision motivated by the antivax and conspiratorial remarks of the host held within his program (in particular on the thorny subject of covid-19), and which had already made several hundred doctors react.
Too bad for Neil Young, Spotify finally preferred to give reason to his opponent. According to wall street journal, the company is currently working to remove all of the artist’s music from its catalog. If for the moment, his songs are still available, we advise you to listen Harvest Moon one last time before its final withdrawal. After exchanges that we imagine stormy, Young did not succeed, which is ultimately not a big surprise.
Spotify and fake news
It must be said that unlike many social networks, Spotify takes no official position on misinformation. Its CEO, Daniel Ek himself, had even declared that the company took no editorial responsibility for the content hosted. Restricted to music until recently, the platform has only very recently taken an interest in podcasting. In a statement for the site Engadget, the company thus regretted the disappearance of Neil Young from its catalog, while hoping that the singer would soon return to the catalog.
On the subject of misinformation, Spotify has however recognized its “great responsibility”, while justifying the difficulty of juggling between freedom of expression and safety of listeners. According to the company, 20,000 episodes of podcasts related to covid-19 have already been censored. She did not, however, explain why. The Josh Rogan Experience continued to appear in its catalog.
A big deal
One of the most probable explanations would however be logical, and financial. Spotify paid big to get Rogan’s show exclusive. Some sources report more than 100 million dollars, which would cause the firm to lose very big in the event of a breach of contract. No wonder then that she prefers to give reason to her golden egg hen.
