This Business
Sucks
March 2022 - Spotify | 2nd Runner Up
In case you didn’t know, Spotify sucks. The streaming service provider pays artists pennies, steals uncredited ideas from interns and—in the latest scandal—has allowed misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines to spread on the platform.
In the summer of 2021, MMA commentator and uber-popular podcaster Joe Rogan announced an exclusivity deal between him and Spotify to the tune of $100–200 million. Rogan is a titan in the podcasting industry with his top 10 episodes amassing over 245 million views on YouTube alone. He’s notorious as an “equal opportunity” interviewer, giving space to far-right fringe voices like Alex Jones, Jordan Peterson, Milo Yiannopoulos and others.
More recently, he’s become a source for anti-vaccine misinformation. He can often be heard telling people not to get vaccinated, spreading conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic and hosting guests who do the same (or worse). The controversy got so bad that many artists—Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and India Aire—are pulling their music off Spotify until it deals with the Rogan problem. Don’t forget that Rogan also likes to casually drop the N-word.
Stand up guy, no?
Spotify should use either CovidMisinformation.Sucks or (let’s cut to the chase) JoeRogan.Sucks to give space to their official stance, share resources for those who want to learn more from scientific and peer-reviewed sources, and condemn anyone who spreads lies on it platform or elsewhere on the web.