Spotify CEO and founder Daniel Ek recently spoke about the decision that led to the platform losing artists such as Neil Young , Joni Mitchell , and Nils Lofgren .
Spotify recently saw a wave of artists follow Neil Young's example and remove their catalog from the platform in protest against the continued presence of the Holocaust-denying podcast The Joe Rogan Experience . According to the New York Times , Daniel Ek defended Spotify's policies during a conference call:
“I think the important thing is that we don’t change our policies based on a content creator, or based on a media cycle or a person’s connections,” he said. “Our policies were carefully written following the opinions of a number of internal and external professionals in this area. And I think they are right for our platform. And even though Joe has a huge audience – he’s the number 1 podcast in over 90 markets – he also has to follow these policies.”
Even with estimates suggesting Spotify lost $2 billion in market value last week, the CEO commented that it's too early to predict the financial impact of recent events on the platform, but that the last few days have provided "many learning opportunities."
Earlier this week, Spotify made its platform rules public and announced that it will add a "content warning" to all podcasts that include information about COVID-19.
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