Joe Rogan on podcast move to Spotify: ‘Why would I sell out now? You sell out to get what you want.’
UFC commentator Joe Rogan, who is also one of the most popular podcasters in the world, recently announced a deal to move his podcast from YouTube to Spotify by year’s end. The multi-year agreement is reported to be worth upwards of $100 million dollars and gives Spotify the exclusive rights to the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
“Announcement: the podcast is moving to Spotify! Starting on September 1 the podcast will be available on Spotify as well as all platforms, and then at the end of the year it will move exclusively to Spotify, including the video version,” Rogan stated on YouTube and via social media.
“It will remain FREE, and it will be the exact same show. It’s just a licensing deal, so Spotify won’t have any creative control over the show. They want me to just continue doing it the way I’m doing it right now.”
Rogan has always said he was not working for the UFC or producing his podcast simply for the money. He is already known to be a wealthy individual. The deal with Spotify, however, kicks his wealth up to a new level, one that he admits makes him uneasy.
How much richer will he be?
“Weirdly richer,” Rogan told the New York Times, who dubbed Rogan the new mainstream media. “Like it doesn’t register. Seems fake. It feels gross. Especially right now, when people can’t work.”
Rogan has often made a big deal of maintaining the independence of his podcast. As he noted in announcing the deal with Spotify, that seemed to be a key component for him. Rogan will be allowed to operate his podcast as he always has, maintaining full editorial control over the content.
As YouTube has instituted greater restrictions and harsher oversight over the content creators on its platform, that very well may be one of the key reasons aside from the money that Rogan agreed to the exclusive move to Spotify.
“When you have something that can’t get canceled, you can be free. What has made society better today than it was hundreds of years ago is not just our prosperity. It’s the evolution of ideas. Anything that wants to limit discussion is dangerous to the evolution of ideas,” Rogan said.
“Why would I sell out now? You sell out to get what you want.”
Rogan’s podcast often features mixed martial artists, coaches, and talk about the UFC and other fight organizations that Rogan is a fan of, but also delves deeper into much heavier topics of society. He now appears to have free reign to continue delving into the corners of the world that continue to spark his curiosity.
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Joe Rogan on podcast move to Spotify: ‘Why would I sell out now? You sell out to get what you want.’