Spotify continues to remove Joe Rogan episodes • Hacker News Board

Re: Spotify continues to remove Joe Rogan episodes

#131

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Apr 09, 2021, 9:36 PM UTC

cicero wrote: post #60

zero_deg_kevin wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And Rogan knew exactly who he was signing with (a risk-averse media company). Two parties voluntarily decided to do business according to some mutually agreeable terms. None of this should be surprising or outrageous to anyone...but, here we are.

So they appear to have mutually agreed to remove content to conform to the prevailing pressure to restrict public discourse to only politically correct content. While it is certainly their right to make any business arrangement they want, it is distressing that open conversation continues to shrink in our world, whether it be through unilateral cancelation or mutual agreement for the sake of money.

[deleted]

Re: Spotify continues to remove Joe Rogan episodes

#132

Post by throwawaysea » Fri, Apr 09, 2021, 9:36 PM UTC

I would like to cancel my Spotify because of this. Does anyone know of any suitable alternative that isn't so heavy-handed with moderation and censorship? I found an app (https://freeyourmusic.com/) that lets you transfer playlists between different music services, but I am not sure who the 'least evil' provider is.

Re: Spotify continues to remove Joe Rogan episodes

#133

Post by quickthrowman » Fri, Apr 09, 2021, 9:37 PM UTC

aksss wrote: post #120

basisword wrote: post #13

>> Rogan, on the other hand, has confirmed that Spotify removed certain shows as a condition of their $100 million agreement with him. “There were a few episodes they didn’t want on their platform, and I was like ‘okay, I don’t care’,” Rogan shared in a recent interview with guest Fahim Anwar. It's part of their deal. Nothing to see here.

The thing to see here (literally, or listen to), is how Joe, despite his assertion that there are no limits from Spotify, makes decisions on guests and talking points while someone at spotify holds a hammer over his hand vis a vis killing old episodes. He knows the hosting party doesn't like certain content, and will eliminate episodes that violate some murky line of political correctness - it's impossible that such…

Was Joe Rogan forced to sign the $100M contract with Spotify? If the answer is “no”, then he willingly accepted this contractual arrangement, and all the benefits and consequences of it.

Re: Spotify continues to remove Joe Rogan episodes

#134

Post by SpicyLemonZest » Fri, Apr 09, 2021, 9:37 PM UTC

nickysielicki wrote: post #125

bootwoot wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a source for this? Seems way more likely to be monetarily pushed by either investors or advertisers (as other poster said) or at least pre-emptively done to appease those groups.

Source: https://www.vice.com/en/article/xg8jq4/spotify-joe-rogan-tra... > One of the submitted questions was "Many LGBTQAI+/ally Spotifiers feel unwelcome and alienated because of leadership's response in JRE conversations. What is your message to those employees?" Another was “Why has Spotify chosen to ignore Spectrum ERG's guidance about transphobic content in the JRE catalog?,” referring to a group of Spotify work…

Although it should be noted that the main episode at issue in that controversy, with Abigail Shrier, wasn't one of the ones removed in this recent wave and is still on Spotify.

Re: Spotify continues to remove Joe Rogan episodes

#135

Post by txsoftwaredev » Fri, Apr 09, 2021, 9:38 PM UTC

readflaggedcomm wrote: post #97

DC1350 wrote: post #40

What's special about podcasts that makes them so much more offensive than music? There's lots of songs that are so much worse.

Podcast presenting problematic ideas seriously persuade more effectively, like non-fiction contrasted with fiction.

So you believe that a podcast episode that is listened to once by a user is more likely to have an influence and be "problematic" than a song that is listened to daily and memorized?

Re: Spotify continues to remove Joe Rogan episodes

#136

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Apr 09, 2021, 9:40 PM UTC

idownvoted wrote: post #69

Whom does Spotify try to aquisice here? Their users? Their content creators? Or rather their staff? All 3 groups could be possible reasons. But given how little median content creators matter to the organization, users and staff are more likely. But if it were the users, then why buy Joe Rogan's users at all? Especially at a record braking price? This makes me believe it's more likely staff. If that is the case one h…

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Re: Spotify continues to remove Joe Rogan episodes

#137

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Apr 09, 2021, 9:41 PM UTC

toshk wrote: post #55

basisword wrote: post #13

>> Rogan, on the other hand, has confirmed that Spotify removed certain shows as a condition of their $100 million agreement with him. “There were a few episodes they didn’t want on their platform, and I was like ‘okay, I don’t care’,” Rogan shared in a recent interview with guest Fahim Anwar. It's part of their deal. Nothing to see here.

He often stated that nothing will change and no censorship would take place because of the move to spotify. For many he was one of the last credible places that would give a place to more extreme voices, even if he might not agree. For years he actively advocated free speech and integrity. Commercially it might be part of the deal, but it's understandable many of his listeners feel like he sold out.

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Re: Spotify continues to remove Joe Rogan episodes

#138

Post by fareesh » Fri, Apr 09, 2021, 9:43 PM UTC

idownvoted wrote: post #69

Whom does Spotify try to aquisice here? Their users? Their content creators? Or rather their staff? All 3 groups could be possible reasons. But given how little median content creators matter to the organization, users and staff are more likely. But if it were the users, then why buy Joe Rogan's users at all? Especially at a record braking price? This makes me believe it's more likely staff. If that is the case one h…

Society in the west seems to not know how to deal with this new variety of bullying. By cloaking their bullying in the veil of righteousness, bullies are able to engage in self-aggrandisement to satisfy the tyrannical need to shape the world in the image that they desire, without engaging in the civilized discourse and debate that would preclude such decision making. The justification thrown around is that the cause is righteous and therefore the ends justify the means, which is pretty much the same justification that has been used by every tyrant in the past.

Standing up to them comes at a high cost, but when has it ever been easy. Perhaps the rest of society has too much to lose now.

Re: Spotify continues to remove Joe Rogan episodes

#139

Post by prepend » Fri, Apr 09, 2021, 9:44 PM UTC

S_A_P wrote: post #27

I wonder if/how much the move cost his listener ship. I see in the comments pleas for Joe to come back to Youtube. I dont know why this happens but Spotify does not work with UConnect on my Jeep. It plays for 1-2 seconds and then mutes. Spotify is the only music/audio platform that doesnt work with Uconnect, but that immediately removes it from being played in my car. Long car rides are where I consume podcasts, so n…

I used to listen to maybe 20% of his podcasts before Spotify. After I listen to 1%.

It’s a combination of the Spotify app being really bad and being different than all my other podcasts. I browse new episodes from all my subs through my regular player and rarely open a separate app just to see what’s new with JRE.

I hope he doesn’t renew the Spotify deal.

Re: Spotify continues to remove Joe Rogan episodes

#140

Post by ljm » Fri, Apr 09, 2021, 9:44 PM UTC

nickysielicki wrote: post #86

idownvoted wrote: post #69

Whom does Spotify try to aquisice here? Their users? Their content creators? Or rather their staff? All 3 groups could be possible reasons. But given how little median content creators matter to the organization, users and staff are more likely. But if it were the users, then why buy Joe Rogan's users at all? Especially at a record braking price? This makes me believe it's more likely staff. If that is the case one h…

It's been reported in the past that it is staff. Spotify has 5,000+ employees -- I wouldn't assume for a second that it's the tech workers doing this, I suspect it's probably HR and marketing and so on. It's a big bureaucratic organization. I like to think if I was at Spotify, and I saw people holding the company hostage like this -- threatening to quit (or whatever) if they don't get their way -- that I would stand…

I heard second hand that the folks working at Spotify were incredibly unhappy about this Joe Rogan deal, and one of the reasons for that was because leadership steamrolled over any concerns they had. And there were many.

I don't really know who this guy is or why you'd spend 100 million on him to secure a deal. But he's walking away with that money and Spotify is left with the infighting. They fucked themselves over with that absurd investment.