Joe Rogan lands new deal with Spotify worth a reported $250 million, podcast no longer exclusive to the platform
Joe Rogan inked a new multi-year deal with Spotify to keep his popular podcast — The Joe Rogan Experience — on the platform for years to come.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, the deal is worth a reported $250 million. Under the new agreement, Rogan’s popular show — which has been exclusively available on Spotify since 2020 — will now be available on other audio platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and YouTube.
In a deviation from his first deal with the company, which was worth more than $200 million, Spotify will sell ads for and distribute Rogan’s show in a video format on YouTube, the Journal noted.
The Joe Rogan Experience has been racking up listeners since it debuted on the podcasting scene in 2009.
“I think podcasting is an art form and I definitely sucked at it when I first started,” Rogan said in an interview with Spotify. “I was curious, but I didn’t understand how to make a conversation flow. I didn’t know when to shut up and listen, and I didn’t know how to make someone comfortable so that you can get the most out of their perspective. I’ve learned how to assist the conversation’s flow instead of waiting for my turn to talk. I learned how to be fully locked in with what the other person is saying.
“A lot of what helps is that I’ve done it for so many hours and learned how to do it better over trial and error, but also that I only have people on the show that I’m genuinely interested in talking to. I never do a podcast just because a person is popular. It’s always from a place of ‘I think it would be cool to talk to that person.’‘”
Joe Rogan’s Run on Spotify Has been loaded with controversy
Despite ranking as the No. 1 podcast in the world, the show has often been a point of contention among listeners. Rogan’s choice of provocative guests aside, Spotify and the show itself were the subject of an all-out boycott after the longtime UFC commentator made controversial anti-vax comments and regularly called into question the legitimacy of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Multiple music artists, including Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Indie Arie, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash, pulled their libraries from the platform in protest of Rogan’s content. Unfortunately, the controversy didn’t stop there.
In February 2022, Spotify pulled 70 episodes of JRE in which the host had uttered the N-word, creating another string of backlash.
“I’ve also learned so much—not just from all the episodes themselves—but also from all the audiobooks I’ve listened to, articles and books that I’ve read, and documentaries I’ve watched either for the show, or because of the show,” Rogan added. “I always feel like, in starting this podcast, I stumbled into this fantastic accidental education just by being interested in talking to people, and being fortunate enough that people want to listen.”
