“The Joe Rogan Experience” soon proved to be immensely popular for Spotify, becoming their top podcast globally in 2021 and drawing in an estimated 11 million listeners per episode. In 2020, Rogan made a licensing deal with Spotify worth more than $100 million that gave the streaming giant exclusive rights to his popular podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience.” New episodes of the show began premiering exclusively on the platform in September, and by the end of the year, Spotify was the only place fans could listen to any full episode in the podcast’s 13-year back catalog. In the time since, public statements have been made by Rogan, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and several other musicians and podcasters. They both cited the danger of Rogan’s spreading and platforming of COVID-19 misinformation as their reason for pulling their music off of the platform. Following a controversial episode of the “ The Joe Rogan Experience ” - a podcast exclusive to Spotify hosted by ex-“ Fear Factor ” emcee Joe Rogan - legendary singer-songwriters Neil Young and Joni Mitchell removed the bulk of their music catalog from the streaming service.

Photo courtesy of Deadline.ĮRIC NOFZIGER | STAFF REPORTER | you are a fan of classic rock or folk music, and you opened Spotify recently to stream “ Harvest Moon ” or “ Big Yellow Taxi ,” you were in for some bad news.