Spotify said to have paid $200million for Joe Rogan podcast deal, twice the figure previously reported

nme.com:

Spotify may have paid at least $200million for the exclusive rights to Joe Rogan’s podcast, double the figure that was previously reported.The streaming giant secured an exclusive license to host The Joe Rogan Experience in May 2020, when it was widely reported the controversial podcast host had been paid over $100million as part of the deal.However, “two people familiar with the details of the transaction” have since claimed to The New York Times that the three-and-a-half-year deal was actually worth twice what was initially believed: at least $200million.

Spotify has yet to publicly comment on this report.The Times points out Spotify had previously purchased whole content companies – podcast network Gimlet Media and digital media brand The Ringer – both for slightly less than $200million each.In recent weeks, Spotify has come under fire for hosting The Joe Rogan Experience, its biggest podcast in the US and many other countries, with an estimated per-episode listenership of around 11million people.Last month, Neil Young requested the platform pull his catalogue, citing “false information about vaccines” being spread on the platform and specifically targeting Rogan’s podcast. “They can have Rogan or Young,” the singer-songwriter wrote in a post on his website at the time. “Not both.”Young’s boycott came after hundreds of scientists and medical professionals shared an open letter to Spotify calling on them to address COVID misinformation, specifically calling Rogan’s platforming of false vaccine claims “not only objectionable and offensive but also medically and culturally dangerous”.Following Young’s exit, artists including Joni Mitchell, Nils Lofgren, Young’s former bandmates David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham.