Joe Rogan has signed a deal worth up to $250 million dollars with Spotify, that frees “The Joe Rogan Experience” from exclusivity to the streaming service.
The deal said to be worth up to $250 million includes a minimum guarantee, and a revenue sharing agreement based on ad sales. It’s not clear how much of the deal is up-front, and how much is performance based.
Spotify will reportedly be responsible for selling ads and distributing Rogan’s show across many platforms. The company said on Friday that it will include YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and other venues.
Also not clear from the Wall Street Journal report on Friday afternoon is if anything from the back-catalog will be distributed on the other platforms.
The show’s alleged misinformation over the coronavirus, however, was highlighted in January 2022. Artists led by Neil Young removed their music from Spotify in protest of Rogan’s content.
Subsequently, Spotify apologized for the show, but refused to remove it. Spotify has also prefixed content warnings ahead of the show, and dozens of past episodes have been completely removed because of it, and other utterances by Rogan.
Rogan calls the removals a “political hit-job.”
“The Joe Rogan Experience” will hit its 15th anniversary on December 24, 2024. There are over 2200 episodes in circulation.
