Dailyinet

Oh, the internet! From avocados to baby Yodas. How can it get more diverse? The influence of the network has drastically changed our world and consequently any change on popular sites is a big deal.
If you never heard of Joe Rogan before this week, then you probably have at this point in time. He’s a podcaster and happens to be a very influential one. His YouTube channel has over 2 billion views making him monopolize a huge audience. He posted his podcasts on YouTube and Apple TV+ but you will not be able to catch him there for long. Is he quitting, you may ask? He plans to move his channel uniquely to Spotify! 

Joe Rogan is a Podcast Mogul on YouTube. Known for his interesting views on things and hilarious profanity, he sits comfortably on the throne of over 8.49 million loyal subscribers. The switch from this kind of influence is rather radical. The show boasted a variety of guests of high influence. People like Elon Musk came on the show. Bernie sanders himself paid Rogan a visit. At first glance many people think Rogan is more conservative but infact he’s more libertarian and often has interesting choices that isnt limited to any party, he broke the stereotype by supporting Bernie earlier this year. The show is also notorious for bringing up controversial subjects which may include conspiracy theories along with commentaries on politics that come wrapped in comedy. 

You may think Joe will be losing revenue, but we cannot tell. He did not disclose the details of the contract signed with Spotify, but the wall street journal reported a whopping 100 million dollars paid to Rogan to make the switch. The main concern of the audience was whether or not the show was going to remain free. Joe assured that and said it would be accessed in both audio and video on Spotify. No need for premium. That does not eliminate the ads you have to sit through with Spotify, but how can we complain when YouTube makes us go through the exact same thing. Youtubes censorship has been more accentuated the past month when they have been censoring and suppressing various news and facts about covid19.

The move is programmed to be on September 1^st and all content will be accessed there, however, access will only become exclusively on Spotify at a point that was not disclosed. It will be in 2020, though. The content creator assured that Spotify will have nothing to do with the content and it will remain the same show in both its video and audio formats. He is not an employee for the platform as he said. On the other hand, he will continue posting some clips from the show on YouTube, but the full episodes will only be available on Spotify. 

This is not only about the Joe Rogan experience but about the other podcasters and creators that are slowly moving away from the platform. Podcasts are becoming more and more popular and those who are making them are in a constant search for a better platform. We also saw this when Ninja moved from the streaming service of twitch. 

This is becoming alarming even though YouTube is still going strong. But what is making people change the safe nests they made? Why are content creators asking their audience to simply move elsewhere? And does that actually work? 

The question that arises is: is Spotify planning to be the Amazon of podcasts? Joe is not the first creator it recruits, and it is currently vetting its system and users for more creative podcasts. The service’s revenue from podcasts increases by 200% yearly making it a clear sign that Spotify is growing in that direction. The latest move was but an announcement that Spotify is now competing with YouTube. It is clear that YouTube is winning currently but we never know what the future holds. Podcast are quite spread out and there is no such thing as THE podcast platform as of now. 

This was a smart move from Spotify. Joe Rogan has been reportedly the most searched podcaster on the platform even before announcing his move. His audience is surely going to move platforms which will enable Spotify to have more users listening to more ads and bringing in more podcasters. It does not stop there. This will increase the premium subscription rate on Spotify which is a lot of money. Whatever the platform is doing, it is doing it right The biggest platform for podcasts is apple TV+ with 52% of the market leaving 19% for Spotify but that is likely to change pretty soon. The platform is now the app on which many podcast companies are unveiling their creations. 

The switch may imply that Mr. Rogan is now going to have one main source of income. Spotify is focusing on podcasts and sees them as an industry well needed for growth. The Swedish company continues making smart moves in the industry and is diversifying its activity. 

I hope this makes us think. Does money ruin creativity? What does it mean to be creative in these times? Artists have often been criticized for working or producing content for big firms but doesn’t that mean we are expecting them to have limited resources? Financial comfort is a huge milestone and gets people to be limitless when it comes to creativity. You can see that artists with the highest pay put a lot of attention into their creations. You might say he was a little greedy but why is that wrong? Nothing is wrong with wanting more income. Being independent does not feed the dogs. 

On the other hand, it is easy to criticize as these kinds of platforms are making podcasts more mainstream. Producing things in bulk does indeed make them lose value but does that apply to content creation? 

Only time can tell and all you and I can do, dear reader, is wait and observe. Meanwhile, we should be spending our time discovering the podcast planet