More than 270 medical experts call out Spotify, Joe Rogan for spreading COVID-19 misinformation

JayMysteri0 said:
While the rumor of Barry Manilow pulling his music from Spotify is NOT true, the same can't be said about the great Joni Mitchell

For both these artists there isn't any real financial hit, having their music available on Spotify really meant it was available for possible new audiences. Still, it will be an interesting trend if this grows. For many artists as Aloe Blacc pointed out on the Daily Show, being on Spotify isn't any kind of financial windfall for the majority of artists on the platform. The biggest thing they do on the platform maybe making a show of leaving it for personal reasons.
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Meanwhile The Onion piles on with a little tease about exactly what kind of windfall is being foregone... hilarious.

www.theonion.com

Spotify Celebrates 100th Dollar Given To Artists

NEW YORK—Proudly declaring that they never thought they’d see the day their vision would finally be realized, streaming service Spotify reportedly celebrated Thursday the platform’s 100th dollar given to artists. “When we launched Spotify in 2008, our mission was to reward artists when customers...
www.theonion.com www.theonion.com

"...today, we finally reached three figures in artist payouts,” said Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, posing with a giant check for a $0.00000029 payout to Dua Lipa for her song “Break My Heart” that propelled the world’s musicians past a collective $100 in earnings.
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lizkat said:
Meanwhile The Onion piles on with a little tease about exactly what kind of windfall is being foregone... hilarious.
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My BIL hates Spotify/Pandora/Any random streaming service. He thinks they take advantage of artists and since he gets some backend, he isn't getting paid like he did pre-streaming for top hits. So there is that.
 
All of this must be getting noticed because...

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1487990076185456648/

I wasn't aware Nils Lofgren also joined in.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Longtime E Street Band Member Nils Lofgren Pulls Music From Spotify, Encourages All Musicians to “Cut Ties” With Service

Lofgren follows Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, who are removing music from the streaming service in protest of COVID misinformation being spread on the platform.
www.hollywoodreporter.com www.hollywoodreporter.com
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https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1487910843333296128/

www.cnbc.com

Spotify to add content advisory when podcasts mention Covid as more musicians yank songs from platform

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer joins Neil Young and Joni Mitchell who are also pulling their music from the streaming service.
www.cnbc.com www.cnbc.com
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KEY POINTS
  • Spotify said Sunday it will add content advisories to any material mentioning Covid-19, and direct its users to public health sites for more information.
  • Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Bruce Springsteen guitarist Nils Lofgren said Saturday that he is joining the boycott of Spotify over Covid misinformation.
  • Neil Young and Joni Mitchell are also protesting the streaming service and pulling their music from it.
  • Separately, popular podcaster Brene Brown said on Twitter that she would “not be releasing any podcasts until further notice.”
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Perhaps if the focus continues on the artists as well as allowing covid misinfo, more attention will be given to how little artists make on the platform.
 
I'll say this... I used to like Rogan. He's a very funny dude and I enjoyed his podcast because he talks about so many things with such an array of people. I was dismayed when he seemed to be doing the "both sides are bad" speak, which always seemed like a way to defend Trump. He's a smart guy, I don't know how on one hand you can be intelligent and call people out, but on the other hand not instantly recognize how daft and dumb Trump is. He always had an easier time bashing Hillary or Biden than he did Trump. Like, he's scared to be a full-blown MAGA-hatter, but brave enough to show where his allegiance lies.

The last couple years, he's went full-on with the crazy train. However, I was somewhat ok with his Instagram response. It's not perfect, but I expected him to do the Trump-like thing and double-down on his stupidity. He doesn't seem to be doing that, so that's a start I suppose.

Joe Rogan is a pretty powerful voice on Spotify, but not if they end up losing a ton of legendary artists. He's still spreading misinformation in his response though... lots of what he said simply isn't true. I don't remember anyone ever disputing you can be vaccinated and still catch and spread covid... nevertheless, he is a host who talks with people and his statement is more humble than some of the usual Trumpkin non-apologies.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1488019683404136448/
 
Runs For Fun said:
I never understood the appeal of this guy. He’s a stupid meathead dude bro.
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Yes, there's a difference between having an eclectic range of guests on a podcast, and knowingly giving a platform to guests whose speech offers up hateful or misinformative material.

For instance, Rogan had interviewed Alex Jones (not once but twice) and so to me Rogan falls into the no-go zone of having lent that despicable peddler of conspiracy theories even the flimsiest of platforms. It had taken legal action and a judicial decision for Jones to "concede" that the Sandy Hook slaughter of 20 first graders and their teachers and administrators in the Newtown school was not "a hoax".

What decent person on the face of the earth would invent such a horrific lie? What corporation is willing to sully its name with a track record of supporting such trash? I"m leaving aside the question of who the hell would buy into it or believe the other garbage Jones rounds up or invents to pitch. That's food for thought in some other thread, probably one about education.

Those interviews Rogan did with Jones were before Rogan even inked his Spotify deal, and it's not like Spotify was unaware of them, since those and a few other episodes were among those that Spotify declined to bring over, and yet they apparently went for language in Rogan's contract that would brook no ongoing corporate "interference" in his podcasting from their platform, or so Rogan claims. If so, then Spotify's c-suite and legal counsel themselves prepared the bitter ground in which they now have to wrestle with Rogan over their pre-lamed assertion of a right to moderate content on their platform.
 
It's interesting because according to Twitter, today is the day that conservative media has jumped to Rogan's defense. So I'm curious if Joe sees that, keeps pretending to play the "I look at both sides & just ask questions" bit, but leans more towards his defenders.

lizkat said:
Yes, there's a difference between having an eclectic range of guests on a podcast, and knowingly giving a platform to guests whose speech offers up hateful or misinformative material.
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I worked with a pretty smart guy that is a Joe Rogan fan. He'd wonder why I rolled my eyes when he would want me to listen to occasional Rogan podcasts. Rogan has the benefit of not leaning heavily into the crazy train, just making a few stops along the way giving him the look of somehow seeing both sides. When you ask a fan about those interviews with the likes of Jones, you always get the response that he's trying to see where they are coming from. The problem of course is he doesn't push back on the crazy, but will push back on other things. It's the selectivity of when he's interested in "both sides", and then inadvertently wanders into some shit like

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1486686427807051780/

The problem as I see it is that Joe Rogan wants to present himself as "the lovable meathead", that millions happen to listen to. Which means "the lovable meathead" can't possibly be responsible for just saying what's on his mind. Ignoring that we often hold anyone who has that kind of influence ( Well, ...until a 45th president that is it seems ) responsible for what they babble. Or am I forgetting how many want athletes, especially Black athletes have to automatically assume the responsibility of being a "role model" and watch what they say like about China or the police? It's the handy double standard many will use when someone says what they like to hear, or those they may not care for say what they might not want to hear.

It's only with Covid we are finally seeing ANYONE who spouts misinformation, get called out & dragged to the carpet.
 
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JayMysteri0 said:
It's interesting because according to Twitter, today is the day that conservative media has jumped to Rogan's defense. So I'm curious if Joe sees that, keeps pretending to play the "I look at both sides & just ask questions" bit, but leans more towards his defenders.
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Well of course today's that day... how else keep the social media pot bubbling.... with heat from both sides.

Meanwhile Spotify advances the start of the lunar New Year of 2022 by one day, and so today lights candles to ancestral corporations, among which are all those that ever misjudged public opinion and brushed off something that wasn't just a cute ad gone viral.

Imagine how busy the search engines are in Spotify's legal and PR unit lately. They seek from above now and from history the wisdom of corporate gurus gone before them: what other corporations have had things go south with customers on social media? How did they handle it? What happened to their stock? HOW DID THEY FIX IT??

What are the magic, meaningless words that will shift attention to anything else? Curious Spotify execs wanna know.
 
lizkat said:
Well of course today's that day... how else keep the social media pot bubbling.... with heat from both sides.

Meanwhile Spotify advances the start of the lunar New Year of 2022 by one day, and so today lights candles to ancestral corporations, among which are all those that ever misjudged public opinion and brushed off something that wasn't just a cute ad gone viral.

Imagine how busy the search engines are in Spotify's legal and PR unit lately. They seek from above now and from history the wisdom of corporate gurus gone before them: what other corporations have had things go south with customers on social media? How did they handle it? What happened to their stock? HOW DID THEY FIX IT??

What are the magic, meaningless words that will shift attention to anything else? Curious Spotify execs wanna know.
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They wanted the listeners. They took a chance on the value added would be more than value subtracted based on what Rogan might do.

Maybe they saw the Howard Stern - SiriusXM deal and thought this would be good. The thing is, Stern is vulgar and stirs the pot. He does not, however, give platforms to Nazis, climate deniers, or covid deniers as a matter of course. Spotify was desperate to monetize podcasts. They messed this up spectacularly.
 
“Just asking questions” as if that’s never damaging or offensive.

Jon Stewart did a bit on this a million years ago on The Daily Show about headlines just asking questions. His example: Is your mother a whore? I’ve no solid reason to believe that, it’s just a question. What’s the harm in asking?
 
Some more perspective on Joe that I think says a lot and one of the reasons I stopped listening to him, he thought Trump was funny, like legitimate funny, from hack comedian funny to “Holy shit, I can’t believe a US President just said that!” funny. It’s like he saw his presidency as a real life SNL skit with no real consequences or danger involved. I think you can apply that same mentality to his more controversial guests as well as Covid coverage. As much as he has been told how large his audience is and how much money Spotify paid him, he seems to think he’s running a little operation out of his mom’s basement with little reach or consequence.

It makes me think of part of a Bill Burr bit where he’s doing general impressions of racists and inserted a disclaimer of “don’t come up to me after the show and say ‘I was thinking it, and then you said it.’”, meaning don’t use his comedy to validate their racist views like it’s a bonding moment. I think that’s what is going on with a lot of Rogan listeners, except in a lot of cases what Joe is presenting isn't in the context of jokes and as such is more dangerous.
 
Edd said:
“Just asking questions” as if that’s never damaging or offensive.

Jon Stewart did a bit on this a million years ago on The Daily Show about headlines just asking questions. His example: Is your mother a whore? I’ve no solid reason to believe that, it’s just a question. What’s the harm in asking?
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That's pretty much the pretext of every Tucker Carlson show.
 
Chew Toy McCoy said:
Some more perspective on Joe that I think says a lot and one of the reasons I stopped listening to him, he thought Trump was funny, like legitimate funny, from hack comedian funny to “Holy shit, I can’t believe a US President just said that!” funny. It’s like he saw his presidency as a real life SNL skit with no real consequences or danger involved. I think you can apply that same mentality to his more controversial guests as well as Covid coverage. As much as he has been told how large his audience is and how much money Spotify paid him, he seems to think he’s running a little operation out of his mom’s basement with little reach or consequence.

It makes me think of part of a Bill Burr bit where he’s doing general impressions of racists and inserted a disclaimer of “don’t come up to me after the show and say ‘I was thinking it, and then you said it.’”, meaning don’t use his comedy to validate their racist views like it’s a bonding moment. I think that’s what is going on with a lot of Rogan listeners, except in a lot of cases what Joe is presenting isn't in the context of jokes and as such is more dangerous.
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This is why I stopped listening to him. Don't wax poetic about why you think Biden or Hillary are bad for America - even if you have legit reasons - and then laugh when Trump acts like a dipshit on Twitter or says vile things in person. Again, Rogan is a smart man and as others have said on here, the only reason he can possibly refuse to call folks like Trump out is because his appeal to MAGA-world is lucrative, or he is on the MAGA train but too afraid to come outright and say it.

I've watched Rogan for a lot of years, and I find it hard to believe he'd find being a MAGA guy more lucrative than doing what he used to do, which is just appeal to a large swatch of average joes.

Trump has ruined a lot of things in America. Yet Rogan's apology - rife with misinformation and all - still gives me some hope. Anyone else would be whining about big tech and pretending to be victims of cancel culture. Rogan also had some fair points in his "apology". Just him acting somewhat humble and not being a dick is a change of pace from what we usually see in MAGA-world.

I'm not ready throw him in the bin just yet, but I'm also 100% on the side of artists pulling their music. While conservatives will whine about other people on other platforms who they deem to be as bad as Rogan - the real knuckleheads whining about cancel culture love to bring up Fauci :rolleyes: - what they are missing is that Rogan is almost an honorary CEO of Spotify. $100 million is a LOT of money. He's the number-one podcaster in the world. That means something. And this should be what conservatives love -the free market working itself out. Republicans spent years using government to "cancel" things they didn't like. Movies, TV shows, music, video games... I'm not even that old and I remember the outrage cons had over things like pro-wrestling, where the Parent Television Council headed up by Brent Bozell tried to get all of WWE's advertisers to ditch them, or congress members grandstanding about how rap and video games should be banned.

So I'm all for letting Spotify, Rogan and artists do what they feel is in their best interest./endrant
 
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