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Joe Rogan and Spotify: The Latest Culture War
It’s going to get quite complex and messy.
We live in the age of podcasts. Everywhere you look, everyone has got a podcast going. And more than any other medium of communication in the twenty first century, It has proven to be a huge money spinner.
And this certainly was the thinking when Spotify made the all important decision to acquire Joe Rogan’s show for a $100 million a few years ago.
It made absolutely perfect sense to do so, given the audience that the man has built up over the years.
And more than any other figure in our greatly polarized and fractious times, Joe Rogan is the biggest draw.
Why?
His unique style has tapped into a market that was waiting to be exploited for the longest time — of angry young white men, who have a visceral loathing of political correctness, wokeism, diversity, Critical race theory and other perceived threat to their position in wider society.
And his inimitable style has helped win another crucial demographic out there — anti-vaxxers.
No other group of folks have made their presence more voluble on the global stage in recent times than the anti-vaxxers. That the basis of their world view is rooted in rejecting science and lies are completely…