Streaming Services | Controversial host Joe Rogan signed a new deal worth hundreds of millions with Spotify

American podcast host Joe Rogan has signed a new contract worth hundreds of millions of euros with the streaming service Spotify, says The Wall Street Journal.

Insiders interviewed by the magazine estimate that Rogan will earn up to $250 million under the new contract, depending on the success of Rogan's The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

The three-year contract includes a fixed minimum fee and a commission share dependent on advertising sales.

According to the WSJ Spotify is starting to emphasize the commission model in its contracts, which is why the share of minimum fees is also decreasing.

For Joe Rogan, this is hardly a problem, as he is one of the most popular podcast hosts in the world and The Joe Rogan Experience is clearly the most popular podcast on Spotify.

Rogan started his podcast back in 2009. In 2020, Spotify licensed it to its own service exclusively. The income from that previous contract is tied to the number of listeners, and Rogan is estimated to earn a total of about 180-220 million dollars, the WSJ says.

In the new agreement, the emphasis is on advertising sales, and therefore it will be offered not only on Spotify but also on other platforms such as other streaming services and the YouTube video service, in order to increase its reach and thus also advertising sales.

Rogan has caused a stir with his podcast. In early 2022, many musicians, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell front nose, pulled their production from Spotify due to misinformation about vaccines spread on Rogan's podcast.

This was especially related to the episode published in December 2021, where the guest was a vaccine skeptic Robert Malone. Rogan's podcast has also been criticized for racism and transphobia.

CEO of Spotify Daniel Ek has condemned Rogan's racist expressions, and some episodes of the podcast have been removed from the service. Rogan also issued an apology himself.