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NEW YORK — Spotify has signed a new multi-year partnership deal with controversial podcast host Joe Rogan, whose popular show will soon also be available on competing platforms, including Youtube and Apple podcasts.
Spotify announced the renewed partnership in a post on the company’s corporate blog on Friday. Under a previous multimillion-dollar deal, “The Joe Rogan Experience” had been exclusive to Spotify since 2020.
The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the new deal on Friday, estimated the new contract was worth up to $250 million over its multi-year term. He cited anonymous people familiar with the matter. The pact involves a minimum initial guarantee, as well as a revenue-sharing agreement based on advertising sales, the newspaper reported.
In an email sent to The Associated Press on Saturday, Spotify declined to comment on the financial details of the deal, including the estimated value.
Over the years, Rogan has built a large audience listening to his long and varied interviews with a variety of guests, including comedians, athletes, scientists and conspiracy theorists.
“There’s no script for what we’re going to talk about, and it’s all happening in real time,” Rogan said in the Spotify blog post. “It’s just a real organic conversation with people having fun, something we can all relate to and something we all love to do. “These conversations have greatly changed the way I think about life and continue to do so.”
The show is consistently Spotify’s most popular podcast, but it’s also a frequent cause of controversy for the company. Notably, Spotify came under heavy pressure in 2022 to fire Rogan over his comments about the coronavirus vaccine and use of racial slurs, and some musicians, including Neil Young, pulled their music from the platform in protest. .
In February 2022, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek denounced the host’s racist language, but said, “I don’t think silencing Joe is the answer.”
Spotify shares closed up $3.51, or nearly 2%, at $222.47 per share on Friday.
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