Spotify’s big bet on podcasting
Investors in the streaming service Spotify have responded positively to plans “to add content advisories to any podcast episode that includes discussions of Covid-19”, causing its shares to rally by 12%, says Dan Gallagher in The Wall Street Journal. The move comes after its shares took a pounding after several highprofile musicians, including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, announced that they will remove their music from Spotify in protest at what they see as “misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines” on the “mega-popular” Joe Rogan podcast. Meanwhile, Rogan promised that he would “do my best to balance things out”.
Spotify’s plans are a sensible “compromise”, says Karen Kwok on Breakingviews. Even if they don’t go far enough to “neutralise the outrage of Young and others”, apologies and warnings should prevent more powerful stars from joining the boycott. Such a move “could have caused serious damage”, even leading to a “wider exodus” from the service. Some will object to any controls, but the plans are limited enough to prevent the service being labelled an “outand-out enemy of free speech”.
Spotify has made clear “where its priorities now lie” by refusing the demands of a “phalanx of ageing rockers”, says Ben Woods in The Daily Telegraph. The fact that it paid $100m for rights to Rogan’s show is a bet “that podcasting will provide the path it needs to more profitable growth”. This may be good idea, given that margins from music streams, which account for 95% of sales, remain “thin” and there are growing calls for artists to get “a bigger slice of the spoils”.