this episode, especially 64:00 to 178:00, is a must-listen for anyone interested in the politics and decision-making behind Spotify's podcast deals

(most important news is that The Joe Budden Podcast will no longer be a Spotify exclusive after Sep. 23) https://open.spotify.com/episode/50azzR1GQqbIgKAxGQhewS?si=WpVrTZSuSSqQUcQPIRGgSg

Joe: "There's an entire [podcast] ecosystem here that you have to respect, if you're looking to feed the soil ... Everybody's not looking to feed the soil — some are just looking to take the fruit."

damn

1 year into his deal, Joe didn't get the bonus he was promised even though he had the No. 1 podcast on Spotify.

"You know what happened? The same thing they've been doing to us in the music industry for our entire lives ... taking all the money, and giving you a f**king plaque!"

on Spotify rejecting Joe + team's initial request to take two episodes' worth of vacation days around Christmas & New Year's Eve:

"Spotify never cared about this podcast individually. Don't be angry at that, it's fine...Spotify only cared about our contribution to the platform."

Spotify offered Joe + team new Rolex watches instead of a bonus (??); they refused

Joe had the idea of giving ~$75K to his fans Cash App style over the holidays as a token of appreciation; Spotify said no

Joe: "That was the first time it dawned on me that Spotify is pillaging."

Joe: "I watched Gimlet get a quarter-billion dollars ... I watched Bill Simmons get a quarter-billion dollars ... If you paid a quarter-billion dollars for a company and they came in and still didn’t budge me out of No. 1 or perform anywhere near us, we have to account for it.”

Joe talks a lot in this ep about being an undervalued guinea pig to justify all the expensive deals Spotify is now signing in the podcast world.

"The gentlemen in this Astoria basement have effectively changed the entire business model & infrastructure of one of our main DSPs."

Joe's renewal deal with Spotify involved "money that I’ve never seen in my lifetime," but was essentially the equivalent of a 360 deal in the record-label world — rights not just to Joe's audio & video podcast material but also to any future content from Rory, Mal and Parks

Joe knows podcasts help Spotify on Wall Street: “If you fill headlines with grandiose ideas that you've fed your hedge fund ppl and senior executive-level staff, and they buy into it, the stock goes up...[then] the labels and everybody who has stock options...they all get rich.”

Joe: "I’m not saying we will not do business in the future," but "our views of where podcasting is taking us for the next 5 years are not aligned ... I am not going to succumb to any bad deal that is not working favorably toward the people who have created that path."

Joe: “In podcasting, it does not behoove you to lock into a long-term contract, because the landscape can change daily, especially when you’re dealing with people who have enough capital and enough power to instantaneously change it themselves.”

Joe to Spotify: "There are a lot of companies with a lot of plans that y’all are just not factoring in, which is weird especially being a company without hardware. Y’all are the only ones. Y’all don’t have an Alexa or Siri. You're not in my f*ckin car. What do you have? Nothing."

ok this thread is done, there goes my afternoon lmao

One more thing... Joe really compared Spotify to a strip club. This is audio streaming in 2020.