“I personally have been involved in conversations with co-workers about being uncomfortable or ashamed to be under the same umbrella,” the employee said. "So what happens when there’s a controversy next year, and the year after that, and the year after that? Because there have been all these warning signs along the way.”Ī second employee said internal employee concerns have been burbling since Rogan became exclusive to Spotify in 2020. “There’s a fool-me-once, fool-me-twice aspect of this," the employee said. Some staff are making "emotional appeals about how seeing these stories in the press every day is affecting their ability to work here, their desire to work here, their recruitment efforts to attract other people to work here," the employee said.Ī similar internal uproar ensued in 2020 over Rogan's commentary about transgender people. Some workers have been sharing news stories about the company's handling of the situation, while others have shared tweets or comments supportive of Spotify, which is based in Stockholm but has a large presence in the Arts District in downtown Los Angeles. "There’s been even some folks directly tagging Daniel Ek in comments, saying, 'Daniel, I hope you’re reading all these comments,’" said one of the employees. Since the latest controversy with Rogan erupted, some Spotify employees have been venting frustrations in the company's communal Slack channels, sharing their opinions, experiences and doubts about the company's direction, according to two Spotify employees who declined to be named because they were describing internal staff conversations. "The worry is that this doesn't end what's been an nightmare situation for Spotify." "The worry from an investor perspective is that it cascades into more artists potentially pulling their music and following the path of Neil Young," said Daniel Ives, a managing director with Wedbush Securities. On Monday, key people leading the popular science podcast "Science Vs" wrote a letter to Spotify Chief Executive Daniel Ek, saying the company's support of Rogan's podcast felt like " a slap in the face." And on Tuesday, two more music artists, Graham Nash and India Arie, left Spotify. Still, the controversy isn't going away as Spotify continues to face scrutiny, from inside and outside the company, over its policies about misinformation.
Spotify and Rogan issued responses to the controversy on Sunday, quelling some of the concerns raised about podcast episodes that discuss COVID-19 with guests who have been largely discredited by the medical community. Major pop stars did not quit Spotify, and app analytics data indicates Young's protest did not diminish new signups. "This was, 'Thanks, Neil.'"Īlthough smaller rival streaming services received a boost from fans of Young and other artists who joined his protest, the effect of the boycott on Spotify has been minimal so far, analysts said. "Sometimes you see things and you wonder what caused it," Mackta said.
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