Spotify in damage control mode, Joe Rogan apologizes over podcast controversy

Spotify is doing damage control after losing billions in market value amid the Joe Rogan podcast fallout, adding disclaimers to content that mentions COVID-19 and directing listeners to a COVID-19 resource hub.

At issue are episodes from The Joe Rogan Experience podcast that critics say help spread misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines. The controversy gained widespread attention after Grammy-winning rocker Neil Young delivered an ultimatum to Spotify: Get rid of Joe Rogan or he’d deplatform.

Spotify agreed to remove Young’s music last week and subsequently lost more than $2 billion in market value after the stock price slid. On Sunday, Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek released a statement announcing the company’s approach to COVID-19, which included the new disclaimers. On Monday morning, the stock rebounded, recovering the previous week’s losses.

While never mentioning Rogan in his statement, Ek wrote, “It is important to me that we don’t take on the position of being content censor.”

Rogan also took to Instagram to apologize in a 10-minute video Sunday.

“If there’s anything I’ve done that I can do better, is have more experts with differing opinions right after I have the controversial ones,” Rogan said.

A self-proclaimed Young fan, Rogan expressed remorse over upsetting artists with his content and agreed with the changes Spotify made.

“If I pissed you off, I’m sorry, and if you enjoy the podcast, thank you,” Rogan said.

More iconic artists are trying to pull their songs from the streaming platform, including Joni Mitchell and Nils Lofgren. Brené Brown is also pressing pause on producing more Spotify content; and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who have a $25 million Spotify podcast deal, said that for months they’ve expressed concerns over COVID-19 misinformation to the company.

Rogan signed an exclusive deal with Spotify in 2020 that’s reported to be worth $100 million and had the No. 1 podcast on Spotify in 2021.

Neil Young, meanwhile, is now promoting a deal with Amazon Music after pulling his songs from Spotify.