Joe Rogan and Spotify Respond to the Neil Young Controversy
Jan 31, 2022Spotify doubles down on Joe Rogan after removing Neil Young’s music last week from its platform and changing its content policy
- Spotify stock was down about 12% over the last week and over 15% over the last month.
- Monday morning, Spotify pledged to be better with Covid-19 misinformation after their biggest podcaster, Joe Rogan, was accused of spreading false information regarding Covid-19 vaccines last week.
- In an Instagram post on Sunday night, Joe Rogan apologized to his fans and promises to be a more balanced podcaster in the future after receiving backlash from many famous musicians.
What Does This Mean for Spotify Moving Forward?
In an attempt to minimize the damage from the Neil Young controversy last week, Spotify published information regarding Covid on their website to prevent future problems.
Spotify promises to flag certain content on their platform when the content is spreading false information regarding Covid-19 and Covid vaccines.
Previously, Spotify did not have any information on Covid on their website so adding this content policy is a step in the right direction after the backlash it faced last week.
Spotify Talent Acquisition:
Spotify’s ability to retain talent will be something to look at for the future of the company. Acquiring and retaining talent is a crucial part to the success of the company. Joe Rogan is one of the biggest parts of Spotify’s future after making him the highest paid podcaster in the industry in May of 2020.
In Rogan’s Instagram post late Sunday evening, Rogan said in the future he plans to have more guests that will present different opinions than ones of the many controversial guests he has had on in the past.
Rogan’s ability to get controversial guests has been a very big part of his success in the past so this will be something interesting to see if he can keep up with in the future. Two of Spotify’s competitors, Apple Music and Amazon Music, have attempted to make Neil Young a focal point of their platforms in response to the Spotify controversy.
What Does This Mean for Spotify Stock?
If Spotify can put this behind them and maintain their relationship with their prized podcaster then this controversy should have not much more effect on their stock. If, in the upcoming weeks, more talent comes out and say they no longer want to work with Spotify, then that could be a major red flag going forward.
The loss of Neil Young is definitely a major loss for Spotify, but they still have much more talent on their platform and they are not expected to lose any more talent especially after Rogan’s sincere apology.
Lastly, Spotify reports 4th quarter results this upcoming Wednesday so it will be important for investors to keep an eye on if the controversy over the last week has impacted Spotify’s performance.
