Over the past few weeks, streaming giant Spotify has faced boycotts by artists and fans over its loyalty to Joe Rogan’s controversial podcast. Rogan recently came under criticism for spreading false narratives about the coronavirus, his use of racial slurs, and recent controversial comments about the use of the word ‘Black’.
Traffic to the cancellation page for Spotify Premium spiked 196% after a group of nearly 300 scientists and doctors wrote a letter to Spotify asking it to step in and keep medical misinformation off its platform. Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, India Arie, and many other artists also demanded that their music be removed from the platform in response.
Spotify’s response to the groundswell of criticism has been remarkably slow and underwhelming for an organization of its magnitude, especially considering that such a scenario was not difficult to imagine and plan for.
In response, the company has removed over 100 of Rogan’s episodes, released its internal rules on removing audio content, and added an advisory to any podcast that discusses the pandemic. It also announced an investment of $100 million in audio content from “historically marginalized groups.” But despite all this and a statement affirming that Rogan’s comments were not in line with its values, the company has insisted that it will not part ways with Rogan as it doesn’t believe in ‘silencing’ someone who expresses a different point of view.
The company is attempting to have it both ways on a highly controversial topic and people are not happy. Rogan is a cash cow and it appears the company is placing its profits over its supposed values, and that’s the worst message to send in such a situation.
Analyzing Spotify’s response
Following the onset of the controversy, Spotify published platform rules prohibiting the spread of false information about COVID-19. While this was a good thing, it revealed inadequacies as one would expect that the most dominant music and podcast streaming service would have made those rules public already.
The company’s commitment to investing $100 million into audio content from underrepresented groups would on its own have been received well, but given the company’s present circumstances, has appeared forced and insincere. The dollar figure of $100 million, allegedly the identical sum as Rogan’s unique contract, is also being regarded as a slap in the face. Giving an equal amount to historically marginalized communities as the amount given to a single individual seen to be ‘part of the problem’, just doesn’t come across well.
Finally, Spotify’s comment about not wanting to silence Rogan simply doesn’t add up. Spotify isn’t giving $100 million deals and a mega platform to just anyone who asks for it. Rather, they give that kind of platform to the people who can make them a lot of money. The reality is that taking away a platform like Spotify from Rogan or Twitter from Trump, does not equate to silencing either because there are many other platforms for them to be heard. Any contrary argument would imply that having Spotify funnel $100 million into our content is a right we’re all entitled to and anyone for whom that’s not the case (so most of us) has also been silenced.
Some crisis management lessons to take from this situation:
- Place greater emphasis on your long-term reputation than profit. The first thing a company should consider when dealing with a controversy is how its key stakeholders are reacting. Poor long-term reputation has greater capacity to put you out of business than not continuing to profit off one offering.
- It’s impossible to make everyone happy so instead of trying to play all sides and thereby getting everyone ticked off, figure out what you really stand for and won’t stand for.
- Be careful to avoid ‘CSR’ moves (donations etc) that appear inconsistent and don’t seem to solve the issue. Hear from affected audiences first to know what they think of the efforts you’re considering.
- Invest in a solid crisis playbook which anticipates likely and high-risk scenarios that could become issues or crises.
- Build a bank of public goodwill before a crisis even happens to shore up your reputation against damage. The last big podcast deal that earned Spotify a ton of positive reputation capital was probably the Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen podcast, which was quite a while back (and feels like an even longer time ago due to COVID).
- Remain consistent in your actions and message. Spotify wants to be seen as merely a platform as opposed to a publisher in this situation. This would be an easier argument to make if the company hadn’t literally paid Rogan to talk to far-right conspiracy theorists. Furthermore, in the past, the company has taken content by controversial figures off the platform.
CONTROL, by Fiayo. 