It turns out that the initial reports about the $100 million deal between Spotify and Joe Rogan were off…by approximately $100 million dollars.
According to the New York Times, Spotify is apparently paying podcaster Joe Rogan way more for their licensing deal than previously reported.
When the deal was first announced in 2020, it was reported that Spotify would pay Rogan $100 million to exclusively host his extremely popular podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, on the music streaming company’s platform.
However, according to two of the Times’ sources, the three-and-a-half year deal is actually for $200 million. Those initial reports were off by double the actual amount. The deal was already huge when it was reported to be $100 million.
When Neil Young demanded his music be taken off of Spotify due to the COVID misinformation found on Rogan’s podcast, it was clear which side Spotify would land on…precisely because of the money involved with Rogan. Knowing that that the deal apparently cost $200 million makes Spotify’s decision to stand by Rogan even more clear.
As the New York Times points out, Spotify has acquired entire podcasting companies, such as the popular podcast producer Gimlet, for around the same amount that it’s paying Rogan for a licensing deal. Spotify is simply paying for the exclusivity. Rogan keeps creative control and ownership over his show.
The money Spotify is paying Rogan makes sense though, when you look at the big picture: The music streaming service wanted to become the de facto podcasting platform, much like Apple Podcasts was for many years. In fact, last October, Spotify beat Apple to become the biggest podcast platform.
And the company is only doubling down on podcasting. On Wednesday, Spotify announced the acquisition of two of the biggest podcasting advertising and analytics firms: Podsights and Chartable.
But still, $200 million to simply host Joe Rogan’s show exclusively for three-and-a-half years. That’s an astounding amount of money.
Mashable has reached out to Spotify for comment, and we’ll update this post if we hear back.
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