Spotify has been demonstrating a long-term commitment to the podcasting format by making several high-profile acquisitions and big-money moves. However, the music streaming platform’s latest acquisition might just be the biggest of them all.
The Joe Rogan Experience will soon become a Spotify exclusive, which means every episode of the podcast will be available exclusively on the platform. Spotify has signed The Joe Rogan Experience to an exclusive multi-year licensing deal. The news sent Spotify shares surging, up as much as 11 percent to USD 179.42.
Until now, Rogan’s podcast has not been available on Spotify, let alone a platform exclusive. The show and its entire 11-year library will hit Spotify on September 1 and will exclusively be available on Spotify later in the year. Listeners won’t have to pay additional to access the episode but will have to be Spotify users to watch the show.
Rogan’s YouTube channel will remain live, but it won’t contain full episodes. The channel currently has 8.41 million subscribers with videos racking up more than a million views on average. The comedian has one of the most popular podcasts in the world. Rogan’s recent podcast with Elon Musk generated over 13 million views in under a week.
Rogan noted; “It will be the exact same show. I will not be an employee of Spotify,” as his podcast has faced criticism from the left for featuring ring-wing voices. However, Rogan’s show is aimed at giving voices on both the left and right a platform to express their views that they otherwise not be able to do on other platforms.
Rogan’s guests have included some of the biggest names in tech, including Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey. Rogan has often been linked to the alt-right, despite hosting DNC presidential candidates Andrew Yang, Bernie Sanders, and Tulsi Gabbard on his show. Rogan has also said that he has never voted Republican in his life.
Apart from figureheads in the scientific community and fellow comedians, Rogan’s podcast frequently plays host to members of the so-called Intellectual Dark Web, whose ideas and opinions are often misrepresented by mainstream media outlets.
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