Joe Rogan's podcast goes missing from Spotify twice. Users wonder why
What do you do when the top podcast on Spotify disappears a couple of times all over the world in the same week? Is this a technical glitch or something done on purpose to drive home a point? Joe Rogan and his famous podcast went missing from Spotify in the same week, and users are wondering why.
USERS TWEETING ABOUT THE MISSING PODCASTS
BREAKING: It appears all episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience on Spotify are now inaccessible. pic.twitter.com/PhMopf4Rxb
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) February 21, 2022
So Spotify deletes Joe Rogan and Maajid Nawaz podcast. Now everyone is curious and is searching other platforms to find it.
— Jen (@JenThePadawan) February 21, 2022
And just like that, it was gone.@joerogan @MaajidNawaz @Spotify pic.twitter.com/giMhCdarBf
— Calvin (@calvinrobinson) February 21, 2022
Spotify’s well known and controversial podcast The Joe Rogan Experience hosted by Joe Rogan, temporarily disappeared from Spotify’s mobile apps and website. Not once, but twice in the same week. All episodes of his podcast were inaccessible on Monday morning but were back online in the evening.
Here is the weird thing: The popular show had also vanished briefly last Friday.
So, this disappearance makes it the second time a show just outright disappeared into thin air.
WHAT DID SPOTIFY SAY?
Spotify blamed technical issues, which apparently affected not only Joe’s podcast but also several other ones. The hour-long shortage instigated speculation among fans that Rogan was blocked from the platform.
WHAT IS THE POINT TO BE DRIVEN HOME?
You might remember how just a few weeks ago, Joe Rogan was the centre of the debate where people questioned if his podcast was a thriving ground for misinformation or free speech. Spotify's strategy of getting a superstar who already had a massive following on YouTube for a deal that was valued over $200 million did put it in a safe spot. Also, why would Spotify avoid its advertisement business growth that came from Joe's hours-long podcasts?
Though Joe's show helped Spotify become a market leader for podcasts, it also placed it at the centre of a cultural storm. Spotify had to take responsibility for the content on its platform like Twitter and Facebook now have to and well, there goes the reputation.
When artists like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell took their music off Spotify because they dissed Joe Rogan's talks (much to Spotify's regret), this was the twist that Spotify had never imagined. To be touted as the platform that spread Covid vaccine misinformation must have hurt both its reputation and revenues. But when the #DeleteSpotify campaign went viral, this was too much to handle. Spotify had to make its content guidelines public and add content advisory notices to its Covid talks.
Is Spotify trying to annoy Joe Rogan and silently show its power? Or should we casually dismiss this as just another technical glitch? 404 Error, I guess.