CNBC Host Warns Rogan Flap Could Be Real Trouble for Spotify: Stock Market ‘Keeps Acting Like There’s Risk There’
CNBC host Michael Santoli warned that Spotify’s Joe Rogan controversy could become a real problem for the streamer, noting that the stock market “keeps acting like there’s risk there.”
At issue is the continuing saga of podcaster Joe Rogan’s journey through public reproach over the Covid misinformation that has been featured on his show, which has been augmented by a flood of resurfaced clips featuring his use of the uncensored n-word, among other things.
On Tuesday morning’s edition of CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, co-anchor Carl Quintanilla reported on the latest chapter in the story, written by rock legend Neil Young, the ramrod behind a slew of artists fleeing the service because of Rogan.
“Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Neil Young once again taking aim at Spotify, he is urging the streaming service’s employees to leave the company in the wake of the Joe Rogan controversy,” Quintanilla said, then read from Young’s statement.
“In a blog post, he calls out the CEO, saying ‘To the workers at Spotify, I say Daniel Ek is your problem — not Joe Rogan. Ek pulls the strings. Get out of the place before it eats up your soul.’ Meantime, you have the former President [Donald] Trump telling Joe Rogan himself not to apologize for some of these things,” Quintanilla said, observing that “It really is morphing into something much larger than one or two episodes of a podcast.”
“It absolutely is,” co-host Santoni agreed. “I think the real key is just what the deletions of the app look like, if there really is a groundswell of consumer response.”
“Now, I know polls have said so many people intended to delete the app or stop using Spotify. It’s unclear what the traction is,” Santoni said, referencing a poll that said about 19 percent of users had already deleted or planned to delete the app over the Rogan issue.
“The market keeps acting like there’s risk there. You know, the stock is down 14 percent this month, you know, we’re only in the eighth of the month. So I think there’s there’s certain questions about, you know, pressure on the long-term business model at a time when they needed podcasts and proprietary content to really emerge from this, this mass of free services that everybody has the same music,” Santoni said.
Watch above via CNBC.
