Do you remember when Neil Young made a big deal about Joe Rogan's content and the spreading of "fake news"? We will leave aside the fact that the questions Rogan was raising is now acceptable conversation. Regardless of that fact, Young threatened to leave the platform unless Spotfiy stop the travesty.
The basic answer by Spotify was "bye bye". They didn't life a finger to retain Young/
Most can presume what the reasoning was. Rogan and Spotify made news when the platform signed him to a $100 million contract. It turns out that was just a start package for Rogan since his latest one far exceeds the original, by more than double.
When it comes to follows on Spotify, Rogan is the king.
We can see why Young and some others had no leverage with the company. When it comes to pulling in the numbers, Rogan is dominate.
It really is not surprising that he is the top dog. What is shocking is how far ahead of the rest of the field he is.
Here are the numbers.
As we can see, not only did Rogan pull in 14.5 million followers, it is almost 10 million more than the next closet competitor.
This is why he got a $250 million contract.
Rogan is part of a new breed that is changing entertainment. Actually, he is changing where we get it from.
Personally, I never listened to him on Spotify. Anything put out by Rogan that I saw was on YouTube, mostly clips.
This means that a lot of attention is being pulled away from the established broadcast channels. The money Rogan got, it is easy to see why he didn't start his own broadcast network like others. Nevertheless, the attention makes a big statement.
Over the next decade, we can expect further fracturing of attention as people are presented with more options and places to get their information or entertainment.
It is something that will likely accelerate due to demographics. Cord cutting and traditional television are generational. The Baby Boomers are the ones who hold onto the traditional cable/satellite package. The younger generations are the ones who either cut the cord or never subscribed to begin with.
We have a couple generations who are very adept at the mobile lifestyle. Getting their information from applications that aren't tied to the major networks or studios is the norm.
That means we will see more opportunities for those who can tap into that. Rogan certainly has.
