Spotify CEO Daniel Ek Tells Investors ‘We Don’t Change Our Policies Based on One Creator’ as Stock Falls

variety.com:

Spotify’s Daniel Ek addressed questions from investors and reporters in a Q&A session following the release of the company’s fourth-quarter earnings, which showed an increase of 8 million paying subscribers but middling financial results — but reflected a period before the firestorm of controversy around Neil Young and other musicians’ requests to remove their music from the service in response to anti-vaccine comments made on Joe Rogan’s Spotify-hosted podcast.The earnings report contributed to a significant immediate drop in the company’s stock price in after-hours trading, even as Ek spoke to investors on a livestreamed Q&A.

In after-hours trading after reporting Q4 results, Spotify’s stock — which historically has been highly volatile — fell as much as 22%.

As of 5:35 p.m. ET, shares were trading down 11% He addressed the controversy briefly, referring to his statement on Sunday that the company will institute warnings on podcasts that address Covid-19, at the beginning of his remarks.“Obviously, it’s been a few notable days here at Spotify,” he said. “When we entered into the podcast space in 2019 with the intent to help modernize and grow the space for all types of creators, we assumed they will test and challenge our teams in new ways.

And there’s no doubt that the last several weeks have presented a number of learning opportunities. I hope you had a chance to read our response that address many of the questions received from creators and partners and employees and the medical and science communities.