Signing podcaster Joe Rogan to an exclusive deal certainly gave Spotify’s share price a boost, but it’s also created some internal headaches for the company.
Vice has a story about some recent internal meetings with staff at Spotify to discuss concerns about the back catalogue of The Joe Rogan Experience. And no, this time it’s not just about interviews with white nationalists.
According to Vice, an episode of the show interviewing an author who compared transitioning (gender-wise) to eating disorders and self-harm, with Rogan criticising trans activists, has caused unrest within Spotify.
CEO Daniel Ek fielded questions at a town-hall meeting including ‘Many LGBTQAI+/ally Spotifiers feel unwelcome and alienated because of leadership’s response in JRE conversations. What is your message to those employees?’.
Clearly some editorial decisions have already been made about the Rogan show’s archive – whether by Spotify or by Rogan’s team – as some of the white-nationalist episodes have not been made available on Spotify.
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