Joe Rogan has faced criticisms for his views on Covid-19 and vaccines. Photo / Getty Images
Spark NZ has reacted to concerns raised by customers over Spotify.
The Kiwi telco has a marketing partnership with the US streaming music and podcast giant that sees some of its mobile customers qualify for free or half-price Spotify Premium.
"Many of our customers have Spotify integrated into the plans they purchase from us," a Spark spokesman told the Herald this morning.
"We know the majority of customers who get access to Spotify through one of our plans love it – but we've also heard the concerns from some customers regarding the Joe Rogan podcast.
"Over the weekend we reached out to Spotify to better understand how they plan to respond to these concerns."
The Spark spokesman noted Spotify has said it will be taking a number of steps in response to reaction from various critics of Rogan's shows, saying yesterday that it would be "Including adding content advisories to any podcast episode that includes a discussion about Covid-19".
In a 10-minute video addressed at the same time, Rogan said he was fine with the advisories, and said, "If I pissed you off, I'm sorry. My pledge to you is that I will do my best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people's perspectives so we can maybe find a better point of view."
Spotify's NYSE-listed shares rose 13.46 per cent to US$196.26 (for a US$38 billion market cap after the company's statement and Rogan's mea culpa, of sorts - although the stock is still well below the US$364 all-time high it hit last year after being caught in the broader tech correction.
"Spark has a responsibility to make sure its partnerships are in line with commonly held moral beliefs or the 'zeitgeist'," said Auckland University Faculty of Business and Economics marketing expert Dr Bodo Lang.
"There will definitely be some brand damage for some people," Lang told the Herald.
"But most customers will probably be satisfied with Spark expressing its disapproval and supporting moves to bolster protections," he said.
Most people would forgive one misstep from a Spark partner, Lang said.
But the telco "could come under real pressure" if there were other incidents involving high-profile Spotify contributors.
Meanwhile, tech commentator Paul Brislen said Spotify needed to go further with its advisories and other new measures.
"Spotify is in the same boat as other social media outlets. It has a huge audience and an obligation to let the audience know if the content is true or fictional," Brislen said.
"In this case, Spotify is actively funding Joe Rogan's show to produce content that is misleading at best and should be highlighted as being factually inaccurate and potentially harmful."
Last week, Neil Young told Spotify to choose between his content and Rogan's after he accused the podcaster of putting lives at risk by spreading Covid misinformation.
The platform chose to remove Young's music.
A number of other artists and podcasters have pulled Spotify content or put new contributions on hold since the controversy broke, including Joni Mitchell, Nils Lofgren and lifestyle guru Brené Brown - who told her 4m Facebook followers she would pause updates until further notice (the best-selling author signed an exclusive Spotify deal in 2020.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who signed an £18million ($36m) deal with Spotify in 2020, and released a report on what they called "The Misinformation Crisis" in November 2021, said they had contacted the service to "express concerns" and lobby for changes, but they added that they were "committed to continuing" their contract (which has yet to yield any content amid production issues).
Spotify paid Rogan US$100m to be the exclusive platform for this podcast, according to a Wall Street Journal report that quotes "people familiar with the matter" (Spotify has not commented on Rogan's contract).
The Journal says Rogan's podcast draws 11 million listeners, making it Spotify's most popular podcast.
However, the paper noted that Young, while near the end of his career, still had contemporary commercial pulling power.
Some six million people per month streamed the Canadian singer's songs on Spotify, and last year Young sold a 50 per cent share in his songwriting catalogue to a publically-traded music investment firm, Hipgnosis Songs Fund, in a deal worth between US$40m and US$50m.
And unlike Rogan, Young was not exclusive to Spotify. His music also streams on Apple Music and Quobuz, and this week the singer has been pushing a four weeks free Amazon Music deal to his fans.
Spotify was also not the only game in town for Spark, Lang said. There were other possible streaming partners. While Spotify has the most popular service, there were others with more content.