“They are in a crisis communication stage at this point and I think it's more likely, they're going to try backchannel ways to rein him in,” he said. While Yousman didn't predict Rogan would get the boot, he theorized there was behind-the-scenes damage control between the company and its star attraction. Bill Yousman, associate professor and director of the Media Literacy and Digital Culture graduate program at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, pointed out that Spotify is getting “a very sizable return on their investment from him,” and he believed “those financial decisions are going to outweigh the kind of social upheaval that is occurring around this.” “It sounds like Spotify’s options are very limited as to what they can do,” he said.ĭr. “So, it comes down to whether or not there is any provisions within the agreement that would allow Spotify to terminate the license agreement with ‘The Joe Rogan Experience.’ Some contracts have moral clauses or certain actions or behaviors that are defined that would allow one party to terminate the agreement.”īerman added that any termination of the contract would come at a price for Spotify, either by paying off Rogan under any severance terms in the agreement or offering to buy out the contract. Berman, partner and director of the Intellectual Property and Entertainment Department in the New York law firm Abrams Fensterman LLP. “My understanding is that Spotify has an exclusive license on 'The Joe Rogan Experience' podcast, which is produced by Joe Rogan and his people,” said Seth L. While Spotify has removed multiple older episodes of “The Joe Rogan Experience” with problematic content - the exact number is unclear, with sources putting it between 70 and 113 - Ek added he was committed to an “incremental investment of $100 million for the licensing, development, and marketing of music (artists and songwriters) and audio content from historically marginalized groups” in an effort to widen Spotify’s programming. In a memo to the Spotify staff, Ek said Rogan’s comments “do not represent the values of this company” - yet he insisted “canceling voices is a slippery slope” and he had no plans for “silencing” Rogan. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has both distanced himself from Rogan’s episodes while standing by his star podcaster. The controversy surrounding the content on the Spotify Technology SA SPOT podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” is showing no signs of abating, with greater pressure being placed on the company to address high-profile complaints of medical misinformation and racially insensitive commentary on past episodes.

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