Spotify Q4 Paying Subs Hit 183M, Sales Up 24% As Joe Rogan Controversy Swirls; CEO To Take Wall Street Questions On Earnings Call

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs Spotify awkwardly attempts to defend its stance on Joe Rogan — first over the Covid-19 misinformation on his show, and then over his frequent use of the N-word on that same show — the controversies have revived musicians’ longest-standing problem with the platform: The royalty rates it and other streaming platforms pay, which most musicians and many rights-holders feel are far too low.This is particularly true in publishing: In January of 2018 the Copyright Royalty Board ruled to increase songwriter rates for interactive streaming by nearly 50% over the following five years, to 15.1%. However, in March of 2019, Spotify, Google, Amazon and Pandora then appealed to keep the previous rate of 10.5% — and are gearing up to argue for that rate for the next five-year period (2023-2027) as well.

One of Joe Rogan’s biggest critics, India Arie, said that she doesn’t believe in cancel culture and isn't asking for the podcaster to be censored, despite taking her music off of Spotify’s platform. Rogan is one of the streaming service's biggest stars, with a contract that could earn him more than $100 million. However, Arie joined artists like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell in asking that their music be removed from the platform due to its inclusion of "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has moved to condemn comedian and podcast host Joe Rogan after another week of controversy. Over the weekend video clips of Rogan repeatedly using racial slurs, and laughing when white guests did the same, went viral.

Dwayne Johnson is walking back his support of Joe Rogan.

Zack Sharf Dwayne Johnson is walking back his support of Joe Rogan. After the controversial podcast host apologized and said he was not trying to promote COVID misinformation on his podcast, Johnson took to Instagram to praise Rogan’s “perfectly articulated” response and to tell Rogan that he was looking forward to coming on his podcast.

Arcade Fire multi-instrumentalist Will Butler has penned an op-ed piece in which he discusses the issues surrounding Spotify and its current situation with Joe Rogan.In January, hundreds of scientists and medical professionals asked Spotify to address COVID-19 misinformation on its platform, sparked by comments made on The Joe Rogan Experience. The 270-plus members of the science and medical community signed an open letter, which called Rogan’s actions “not only objectionable and offensive but also medically and culturally dangerous”.Following the publishing of that letter, Neil Young demanded his music be “immediately” removed from the platform, with many high-profile artists like Joni Mitchell, David Crosby and Graham Nash following suit.Since then, a consumer poll from Forrester Research has found that 19 per cent of the streaming service’s customers have since cancelled their subscriptions, or plan to in the near future.

Harry and Meghan Markle "fake" and "braindead" over their multi-million dollar Spotify deal. The couple have received increasing pressure to abandon their partnership with the streaming service after it hosted anti-vaccination content made by US commentator Joe Rogan.Rogan was accused of spreading misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines, which have been proven to be safe to use and effective against the virus.

Spotify boss Daniel Ek has sent a letter to company staff saying he “strongly condemns” Joe Rogan’s use of racial slurs, but that removing his podcast is “not the answer”.It comes after the streaming service reportedly removed 70 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience that see the comedian using racist slurs.Last week (February 4) India.Aria shared a compilation of clips that featured Rogan using the N-word repeatedly and describing a Black neighbourhood as being similar to the Planet Of The Apes movie.Rogan has since apologised, telling his Instagram followers. “There’s been a lot of shit from the old episodes of the podcast that I wish I hadn’t said, or had said differently.

Battling criticism for hosting The Joe Rogan Experience, a podcast denounced for the propagation of Covid-19 vaccine misinformation and Rogan’s use of the N-word in 70 episodes, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek released a memo to his employees expressing how “deeply sorry” he is for the way the podcast affected his employees.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorSpotify CEO Daniel Ek, under fire from critics inside and outside the company over its partnership with Joe Rogan, said in a memo to employees that was “deeply sorry” for how the controversy over the podcast host has affected them.But in the wake of the company removing 70 past episodes of his podcast and Rogan’s use of the N-word on his show, Ek signaled that Spotify does not plan to end its deal to distribute “The Joe Rogan Experience.”“I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer… canceling voices is a slippery slope,” he wrote in the memo Sunday, which was obtained by Variety.Ek said he is “committing 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.” “If we believe in having an open platform as a core value of the company, then we must also believe in elevating all types of creators, including those from underrepresented communities and a diversity of backgrounds,” the CEO wrote.Rogan has been a controversial figure ever since Spotify inked its exclusive deal with him in 2020, his hosting of right-wing personalities on “The Joe Rogan Experience.” The latest controversy over coronavirus misinformation on Rogan’s podcast has gone beyond the low-boil level that has previously accompanied outrage over comments on his podcast. That was led by Neil Young, who demanded Spotify pull his songs or drop Rogan, and has been followed by a few other artists and creators.According to Ek, Spotify has had conversations “with Joe and his team about some of the content in his show, including his history of using some racially insensitive language.

after publicly supporting Joe Rogan, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson acknowledged the controversial podcaster’s repeated use of the N-word, calling the revelation a “learning moment.”The popular actor was responding to a follower who said his recent backing of Rogan was a “terrible abuse of your power” in light of the N-word scandal.“I was not aware of his N word use prior to my comments, but now I’ve become educated to his complete narrative,” Johnson, 49, wrote on Twitter Friday. “Learning moment for me.”Rogan dropped the N-word almost two dozen times while hosting his wildly popular podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” according to newly unearthed clips.Rogan called the viral compilation “the most regretful and shameful thing I’ve ever had to talk about publicly” on Friday, saying the video was a collage of “out of context” snippets from “12 years of conversations.”Dear @donwinslow Thank you so much for thisI hear you as well as everyone here 100%I was not aware of his N word use prior to my comments, but now I've become educated to his complete narrative.Learning moment for me.Mahalo, brother and have a great & productive weekend.DJ https://t.co/3mBf85wRoe“It looks f–king horrible.

Whitney Cummings is sharing her thoughts on the Joe Rogan Spotify debate.

Whitney Cummings is getting a lot of attention for her thoughts on the Joe Rogan controversy, after 70 episodes of his program were pulled due to his repeated use of the N-word, as well as several artists pulling their discography off of Spotify for COVID misinformation shared on his podcast.

Spotify has taken down 113 episodes of the Joe Rogan Experience after an old clip of him using the 'n-word' resurfaced.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson seemingly withdrew his support for Joe Rogan after a slew of resurfaced videos showed the popular podcast host using racial slurs.  Johnson previously made waves when he commented on Rogan’s video response to critics calling for him to be removed from the Spotify platform, where he went exclusive with his podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience" in 2020, over him spreading misinformation about COVID-19.  "Great stuff here brother," Johnson wrote in response to Rogan defending himself and his guests. "Perfectly articulated.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has seemingly backed away from his previously stated support for controversial podcaster Joe Rogan.

Dwayne Johnson is pulling back on his support of Joe Rogan in light of the recently unearthed compilation video, publicized by India Arie, in which the comedian is seen using the N-word nearly two dozen times in past episodes of his podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience.”

Dwayne Johnson is pulling back on his support of Joe Rogan in light of the recently unearthed compilation video, publicized by India Arie, in which the comedian is seen using the N-word nearly two dozen times in past episodes of his podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience.”

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DANCING On Ice star Brendan Cole has sparked controversy for ITV after liking a post from an online account – that claims Covid is a conspiracy. Former Strictly dancer Brendan, 45, backed a video on an Instagram account called Nuremberg 2.0, which he follows.

Kay Hanley Guest ColumnistKay Hanley, best known as the frontperson for Letters to Cleo and co-founder of the activist group Songwriters of North America (SONA), felt gratified when Spotify was put in the spotlight by some musicians who hadn’t weighed in before in the wake of the Joe Rogan controversy. She writes a guest column for Variety amplifying these thoughts: “COME FOR THE ANTI-SCIENCE SMACKDOWN, STICK AROUND FOR THE WORKERS’ REVOLT.” — @DAYNAKURTZThank you for your assistance, Mr.