Case Study

Spotify

Joe Rogan vs. Neil Young

Haven Dragomer & Charles Chitwood

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Table of Contents
● Background
○ Spotify
○ Joe Rogan
○ Neil Young
● The Case
○ Pre-Crisis
○ Crisis
● Responses
○ Spotify
○ Rogan & Young
○ Stakeholders
○ Public Response
● Analysis
● References
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Background
Spotify
Spotify is a digital music, podcast, and video service that grants access to millions of
songs and other content from creators all over the world. Creators Daniel Ek and Martin
Lorentzon launched the company in 2008 out of Stockholm, Sweden. They boast over 82 million
songs and four million podcast titles that users can listen to on-demand for free or with a Spotify
Premium account. Currently, Spotify has approximately 11 million content creators, 180 million
monthly subscribers, and 406 million monthly users. Spotify’s mission statement is, “Our
mission is to unlock the potential of human creativity—by giving a million creative artists the
opportunity to live off their art and billions of fans the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by
it(Spotify.com, n.d.).” They fulfill this mission through their five core values which are
innovation, collaboration, sincerity, passion, and playfulness. Spotify is very passionate about
many social issues including mental health, racial equality, and climate change. In their business
plan, they have involved measures that significantly lower their greenhouse gas
emission(lifeatspotify.com, 2022).

As the revenue earned from music streaming began to slow down in the late 2010s,
Spotify began to heavily invest in the podcast industry(Ingham, 2022). In 2019 Spotify
purchased three podcast creation and distribution companies for over $375 million(Ingham,
2022). The goal of Spotify’s push for podcasts was mainly for the financial benefits that come
with it. If a user plays music on Spotify, Spotify has to pay royalties for that song, but if the user
listens to a podcast, Spotify does not have to pay any money. If more users listen to podcasts than
music, Spotify will be able to retain more money(Ingham, 2022). This move by Spotify is also a
response to listening trends. In an article by Rolling Stone, author Tim Ingham quoted these
statistics involving listening habits,

In 2014, 80% of the US population’s listening hours were directed towards music, with
20% dedicated to spoken word; in 2019, with the mainstream presence of podcasts erupting all
around (not least on Spotify), these stats have changed: music’s share is down to 76%, says the
research, with spoken word growing to 24%. (Ingham, 2022)

This move into podcasting by Spotify can be seen as them preparing for the future. In a
2020 Q3 report, Spotify announced that twenty-two percent of their monthly average users listen
to podcasts, and that podcasting ad revenue was up one hundred percent(Rouhandeh, 2022).
They also welcome world-famous hosts like influencer Addison Rae and former First Lady
Michelle Obama. Spotify themselves said that audio, not music, is the future of
Spotify(Spotify.com, n.d).

Joe Rogan
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Joe Rogan is an American podcaster, comedian, actor, and UFC commentator. He can be
seen on tv in films like Zookeeper or hosting the show Fear Factor on NBC. He has also been a
comedian and a color commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, for over
twenty years(joerogan.com, n.d.). The Joe Rogan Experience is a podcast hosted by Rogan
where he discusses many different topics like current events, politics, comedy, philosophy,
science, and hobbies with a variety of different guests. The Joe Rogan Experience, or the JRE,
brings in approximately 11 million viewers per episode, which makes it the world’s largest and
most listened-to podcast(Rouhandeh, 2022). Rogan has been known to be a polarizing figure
both politically and socially. He has sparked outrage from either side of the aisle multiple times
by smoking marijuana with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, by backing US Presidential candidate Bernie
Sanders or by bringing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones onto the podcast(Gross, 2022).

Neil Young
Neil Young is a world-famous guitarist, singer, and songwriter from Toronto, Canada.
The Grammy award winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member is most famous for his solo
work and his work with the bands' Buffalo Springfield and Crazy Horse(Britannica, n.d.). Young
is no stranger to social issues and has a long history of being outspoken about current events, and
writing songs about social problems. He has written songs about tragic events like the Kent State
Shooting in 1970 and the 9/11 attacks with his songs, “Ohio” and, “Let’s Roll.” He is also quite
verbal in his assessment of US leadership like when he expressed his admiration for President
Ronald Raegan in the 1980s. Also in the 2000s, he wrote songs opposing President George W.
Bush’s handling of the Iraq War and Donald Trump’s policies(Britannica, n.d.).
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The Case
Pre-crisis
In May of 2020, Spotify announced that the centerpiece of their plan to move into
podcasting would include the exclusive rights to host the Joe Rogan Experience. Rogan and
Spotify agreed to a deal that was originally reported to be around $100 million, but it was later
reported by anonymous sources that the value of the deal was at least $200 million(Gross, 2022).
At a company meeting, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said, “that exclusive content like Mr. Rogan’s
show is vital ammunition in Spotify’s competition against tech Goliaths like Apple and
Google(Gross, 2022).” This new professional relationship began with a rocky start when in
September 2020, many Spotify employees voiced their concern with Rogan’s content. Spotify
had Rogan quietly remove about a dozen episodes. These episodes include interviews with
alt-right figures like Milo Yiannopoulos and with Gavin McInnes who is the founder of the
extreme-right Proud Boys movement(Romano, 2022). On December 31, 2020, the JRE released
episode #1757 which featured an interview with virologist, Dr. Robert Malone, who claims to be
one of the creators of mRNA technology(Todayheadline, 2022). In the podcast, Malone stated
that "mass formation psychosis" led people to believe the vaccines were effective and President
Joe Biden had withheld data that supported ivermectin as a valid treatment(Bradley, n.d.).
Youtube removed episode #1757 and Twitter banned Dr. Malone for violating their COVID-19
misinformation policy.

Crisis
The crisis exploded on January 12, 2021, when a group of 270 medical professionals,
scientists, healthcare professionals, graduate students, and professors signed an open letter to
Spotify demanding that they address the content of JRE episode #1757. The letter also noted
Spotify’s lack of a clear misinformation policy and requested that the company implement
one(Bradley, n.d.). The letter said:

By allowing the propagation of false and societally harmful assertions, Spotify is

enabling its hosted media to damage public trust in scientific research and sow doubt in
the credibility of data-driven guidance offered by medical professionals. (Todayheadline,
2022)

The crisis was further propagated when the letter gained circulation on social media and
was eventually picked up by rock icon Neil Young. On January 24, 2021, Young posted a letter
to his management and record label on his website where he explained that he wanted his music
removed from Spotify(Todayheadline, 2022). Young quotes that it is, “spreading fake
information about vaccines, potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation
being spread by them.” He ends his letter by saying, “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”
Young would later remove the letter, and on January 26, 2021, Spotify would respond and
remove his entire music catalog from their service(Bradley, n.d.).
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This stance by Young created a snowball effect of other artists taking similar stances. On
January 28, 2021, Singer Joni Mitchell would also remove her music catalog from Spotify. In a
statement, the singer said, “Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their
lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on
this issue(Bradley, n.d.).” That same day, Amazon Music announced that all Neil Young fans
could access a four-month free subscription with a link specifically created for Young. The next
day, January 29, Nils Lofgren, guitarist for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, announced that he
would also pull his 27-year career worth of music from Spotify(Bradley, n.d.). In his own
statement he said:

We encourage all musicians, artists, and music lovers everywhere, to stand with us all,
and cut ties with Spotify. ... Pick up your sword and start swinging! Neil [Young] always has.
Stand with him, us (Joni Mitchell!), and others. It’s a powerful action YOU can all take NOW, to
honor truth, humanity, and the heroes risking their lives every day to save ours. (Bradley, n.d.)

On January 30, 2021, CEO Daniel Ek released a statement announcing the platform’s
plan to implement a “content advisory” label on all content that discusses COVID-19 and the
pandemic(Todayheadline, 2022). Spotify also promised to contribute $100 million to creators
from historically marginalized groups(Gross, 2022). Rogan also responded with a ten-minute
video posted to his Instagram page. In this video, he addressed Neil Young and Joni Mitchell
directly and explained that his podcasts are conversations with all kinds of people who have all
kinds of views. He continued by thanking Spotify for their support, agreeing with the COVID-19
advisory, and disagreeing with his show being labeled as misinformation(Bradley, n.d.). These
responses did not keep the crisis from continuing to snowball.

On January 31, 2021 R&B singer India Arie posted to Instagram that she will follow
Young’s stance, not only because of COVID-19 misinformation but also in response to Rogan’s
problematic statements about race(Bradley, n.d.). On February 3, 2021, Daniel Ek spoke about
the Rogan controversy on a Q4 earnings call. On the call, Ek spoke about the implementation
and publishing of Spotify’s policies saying, “Just an acknowledgment from my side. That’s
probably late, we should have done it earlier, and that’s on me(Todayheadline, 2022).” He also
mentioned how Spotify is the first platform to implement such a policy and that it is too early to
tell if the crisis would impact company revenue(Bradley, n.d.). On February 4, Spotify removed
70 episodes of the JRE from the platform. It was later found that Rogan requested the episode
removal himself, and it is presumed that each video that was removed features Rogan using a
racial slur(Todayheadline, 2022). Rogan would respond the next day with an Instagram video
where he apologized for his language calling it shameful. In the video, Rogan says, “I know that
to most people there’s no context where a white person is ever allowed to say that word, never
mind publicly on a podcast, and I agree with that now. I haven’t said it in years. It’s not my word
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to use. I’m well aware of that now.” On February 6, Spotify sent a memo to employees
apologizing for how the crisis has affected them. In the memo, Ek made employees aware of
corrective action being taken with the JRE, and he noted that he does not believe silencing Joe is
the answer(Todayheadline, 2022). On March 28, 2021, Spotify finally rolled out its COVID-19
content advisory label, which is a blue bar that appears on top of COVID-19 related podcasts. If
clicked the bar will take users to an information hub for COVID-19. It is noted that the content
advisory will appear at any mention of words like “coronavirus” or “pandemic” in a podcast.
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Responses
Spotify
Spotify responded to this crisis and all of the open letters asking them to remove Rogan
from their platform by immediately releasing a statement on January 30, 2022. The initial
response was released in a blog post reportedly written by Spotify’s CEO, Daniel Ek. In the
detailed response Ek wrote, “A decade ago, we created Spotify to enable the work of creators
around the world to be heard and enjoyed by listeners around the world…To our very core, we
believe that listening is everything. Pick almost any issue and you will find people and opinions
on either side of it. Personally, there are plenty of individuals and views on Spotify that I
disagree with strongly. We know we have a critical role to play in supporting creator expression
while balancing it with the safety of our users. In that role, it is important to me that we don’t
take on the position of being content censor while also making sure that there are rules in place
and consequences for those who violate them.” (Spotify, 2022). The statement then went on to
explain a series of corrective actions Spotify planned to take following the crisis event - in an
effort to prevent any future issues with controversial content creators like Rogan. The three main
corrective actions included the publishing of their long-standing Platform Rules and policies, the
addition of a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes a discussion of COVID-19, as
well as testing new ways to highlight their Platform Rules in their creator tools to raise
awareness around what’s acceptable and help creators better understand their accountability for
the content they post on the Spotify Platform.
Following the continued controversy around Rogan in the following few weeks, Spotify’s
CEO, Daniel Ek, released yet another statement claiming that they know that they have a critical
role to play in supporting creator expression while also maintaining the responsibility of ensuring
safety of their users. Ek sincerely apologized to his staff for having to deal with the entirety of
the Joe Rogan issue and its negative repercussions while also stating that taking Rogan off the
platform is a ‘slippery slope’ as they don’t want to take on the position of being a content sensor
while also making sure that there are rules in place and consequences for those who violate them.

Rogan & Young

Rogan also responded to the crisis event on January 30, 2022, in a ten-minute video he
posted to his Instagram account. In the statement, Rogan stated, “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,” (Bursztynsky, 2022). He went on to praise Spotify for
deciding to add a content advisory to their platform and pledged to do a better job at researching
topics and balancing perspectives on his podcast claiming, “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.” Rogan added, “I’m going to do my best, but my point
of doing this is always just to create interesting conversations and ones that I hope people enjoy.
So if I piss you off, I’m sorry and if you enjoyed the podcast, thank you.” (Bursztynsky, 2022).
He also apologized directly to both Neil Young and Jone Mitchell in the video.
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Young originally threatened to pull his music from Spotify in an open letter he released to
the public on January 26, 2022. In the letter, Young stated, “I am doing this because Spotify is
spreading fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the
disinformation being spread by them. Please act on this immediately today and keep me
informed of the time schedule... I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want
all my music off their platform...They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.” (Gross, 2022).
However, despite Spotify complying with Young’s request and removing his music from their
platform, Young continued to speak against the popular music platform in another statement
released on January 28, 2022. Young's new statement focused more on his criticisms of Spotify's
technology and business as a whole. Young stated, “When I left Spotify, I felt better…
AMAZON, APPLE MUSIC, and Qobuz deliver up to 100% of the music today and it sounds a
lot better than the shitty degraded and neutered sound of SPOTIFY, " Young writes. "If you
support SPOTIFY, you are destroying an art form. Business over art,” (Darville, 2022).

Stakeholders
The stakeholder responses to this case were very polarized amongst every channel.
Sources like the WSJ & Forbes responded fairly neutrally, while other outlets like CBSNews
responded neutrally to Spotify and more negatively to Rogan, while The Rolling Stone
responded negatively to both. According to a Rolling Stone article, all the major music labels
were given stakes in Spotify years ago as part of a licensing agreement back when the streaming
service was just a startup. Millman stated, “Spotify’s major stock owners have for the most part
stayed quiet on the ongoing controversy — and there’s certainly questions to be raised about a
lack of shareholder activism at large — but Universal Music Group and Sony Music
Entertainment aren’t like most stockholders,” (Millman, 2022). The week after the release of the
letter from the group of 300 scientists and doctors, A Time article also found that traffic to
Spotify’s cancellation page spiked to almost 200% (Popli, 2022). Spotify Technology's shares
were also reported to fall 5% after Joe Rogan's podcast was briefly not accessible on the
company's streaming platform (Popli, 2022).

Public
The public’s responses to this crisis case also varied greatly but tended to lean more to the
negative side. Most positive Twitter responses usually mentioned the importance of free speech
and commended Spotify for not “silencing voices” and keeping The Joe Rogan Experience
podcast up on their platform. @Boogie2988 stated, “Ya know I find myself disagreeing with
most of what I hear or see from the Joe Rogan podcast. But even if he’s wrong, let him be wrong.
Don’t silence him. Instead, let other voices be heard as well. Trust us to make an informed
decision. #istandwithjoerogan” While some of the negative tweets often mentioned Spotify in
relation to or in support of racism, anti-vaxxers, and covid-deniers. @amagickeagle999 stated,
“It really says a lot about Spotify’s lack of commitment that they’d choose a Covid-denying
anti-vaxxer over Neil Young… #BoycottSpotify” The hashtags #boycottspotify and
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#deletespotify began trending on January 28, 2022. And in response, the hashtag
#istandwithjoerogan began trending as well.
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Analysis
Spotify communicated consistently throughout this crisis event with Joe Rogan and Neil
Young in a clear and concise manner. They used multiple communication channels,
communicating with the public via social media, their website, email, and more to fully respond
to Rogan, Young and the publics' many concerns with a calm and respectful tone. While the
responses varied greatly, most of the stakeholders seemed to have stayed in support of Spotify -
refusing to pull shares and staying quiet on the subject of Joe Rogan. Though the platform did
lose multiple artists and podcasters due to the controversy of the issue and Spotify’s refusal to
fully remove Rogan from the platform.
Spotify made sure to respond to the crisis quickly and consistently which kept them from
further public scrutiny or claims of crisis avoidance. Their message was always consistent with
their mission and values - aiming to preserve their relations with all of their content creators
while also trying to please the needs of their stakeholders. For their crisis response strategy, they
seemed to respond strategically and apologetically - taking significant corrective action by
adding in a COVID-19 disclaimer and content advisory to all podcasts speaking on COVID-19,
as well as by implementing new platform rules for their content creators. Throughout the entirety
of the crisis event, Spotify remained loyal to its partner, Joe Rogan, which stayed true to its
mission. While also being able to shift the blame onto Rogan by distancing themselves from his
brand and denouncing his covid misinformation and racist comments. Through their crisis
response, Spotify managed to preserve their company’s reputation and relations with Rogan, with
minimal damage to their brand image and stock.
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CBS Interactive. (n.d.). Spotify CEO: We're sticking with Joe Rogan despite controversy. CBS
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