CENSORSHIP & FREE SPEECH
Musician’s Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Nils Lofgren and more, protested harmful vaccine misinformation on Joe Rogan’s podcast (which was bought by the platform for $100 million in 2020 as part of a new business strategy into the podcasting space and has an estimated 11 million listeners per episode - one of the most popular programs in the world) by requesting that Spotify choose between their music/content or Rogan’s podcast. #CancelSpotify trended on Twitter, echoing previous values-led digital boycott trends like #BlackTikTokStrike. In the end, Spotify stood with Rogan - leaked messages showed that a review of the content didn’t meet a threshold for removal. In response to the musician-led boycott, Spotify’s newly published content platform policy (which included a commitment to content advisory warnings) appeared to resolve some worries, and boosted shares on release.
“My point of doing this is always just to create interesting conversations and ones that I hope people enjoy.” Joe Rogan
At face value, many argued that this controversy was about free speech and censorship. Much of the backlash against the boycott of Spotify rightly pointed out that it shouldn’t be deplatforming people who hold alternative views, while others held that there needs to be an element of responsibility in how they publish these views - for example with content warnings, rigorous fact checking and research, and proper context (giving a platform to those with contrasting viewpoints). However, in spite of spreading harmful information, podcast listeners were happy enough with the subsequent response by Rogan and Spotify:
“I’ve always been of the mind that Joe Rogan had to be more responsible with his ‘controversial’ guests. He has vowed to do that in the video by 1) being more prepared on their topics beforehand, rather than his preferred off-the-cuff approach, 2) scheduling guests with contrasting views on subject matters back-to-back. I think he deserves kudos for being open to change after the criticism he received. I think it's on us, the consumers of his show, to hold him accountable to this higher level of responsibility he’s committed to.” Craig, 33, New York
PUBLISHING RESPONSIBILITIES
Many others were not convinced that this is enough. After a number of days of cultural conversation on the topic, the overarching issue seems to be that Spotify is blurring the lines between tech platform and media/publishing company. A key differentiating factor in the case of the Joe Rogan podcast is that it differs from the average conspiracy theorist on YouTube or Facebook, for example, in the context of the size of its audience and the direct payment from Spotify for creating the content. This distinction makes the tension not one about censorship, but an issue of editing responsibility. As Kara Swisher, Pivot host, notes - media companies have to make sure what they publish is true. Ryan Broderick writes in his brilliant web culture newsletter ‘Garbage Day’:
“Spotify doesn’t get to just put a content warning on Rogan’s episodes and treat him like they would any other podcast because he’s not any other podcast. He’s their podcast. The Joe Rogan Experience is, in every sense that matters, a Spotify production….They made an editorial decision, just like any regular old TV station or radio broadcaster and decided that Rogan is more valuable to them than Joni Mitchell or Neil Young.”
VALUES VS VALUE: A SPOTLIGHT ON THE SYSTEM
“Is @joerogan a material #ESG issue for Spotify at this point?” @RadenJake, Twitter
Not only have the events have led to a renewed focus on Spotify’s publishing policies and put its corporate governance into question, they’ve shone another critical light on its system and its poor performance in paying artists whose work is hosted on the platform. Many young musicians took this opportunity to share their frustration with the royalty set up and were very transparent in how it’s affecting them financially. It also shone a light on the fact that so many artists don’t actually hold the rights to their own music, so even if they wanted to protest in this instance, they don’t have the power to.
“our stupid band gets close to a million monthly streams on spotify. spotify pays out .003 cents per stream. 100% of that goes to our former label Sony who is a part owner of spotify. this is why i’m mad…this is not a culture war issue for most artists it’s a material one. i cannot feed my kids with “spotify exposure”...joe rogan is only important in that he highlights spotify’s absurdly exploitative business practices.” @Eve6
“Joe Rogan is making as much as 100 million on Spotify while artists have to get 350 plays to make a dollar? I'd leave just over that.” @alexanderchee
This conversation impacts on customers in a deep way. Recent research has shown that “emotional rather than rational appeals are now driving customers’ preferences for brands, according to an analysis of over a quarter of a century’s worth of data” - so it was no surprise, on the back of a largely values-based conversation - that many Spotify users started looking around for alternatives this week, with greater intent. But the true power of this boycott was that it was double edged - it worked on both emotional and rational appeals for different people. Some started sharing ‘how to break up with Spotify’ tips because of their misalignment with the brand’s values, while others were looking for a new place to just listen to Neil Young.
BRAND TAKEOUTS
Understanding the values of your audiences is more and more important - a value-driven mindset can help to keep you on track and also to create more emotionally-resonating work that will drive meaning with customers.
More diverse brand channel planning is a big opportunity - especially through the lens of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) concerns. We’ve seen big brands take a stand against media owners like Facebook by pulling advertising in the past, and it’s likely that when it comes to the big players there is always going to be debate. Instances like this are a good reminder of the value in supporting other innovative and distinctive corners of the internet, plus you never know when a Tidal-esque bet could take off!
Platform regulation (and power related) conversations are not going away - and they are a good reminder to ensure company policies around communications are updated and aligned with growing customer expectations around responsibility and transparency. The safety and quality of information that people are consuming every day online is paramount.