“That’s Not What I Do” – Spotify’s Tactic That Almost Forced Joe Rogan to Quit $200 Million Deal

Joe Rogan has done many gigs throughout his life. The New Jersey-born has been the voice of the UFC for over two decades. Besides, he has done many TV shows, the Fear Factor reality show being one of his most famed ones. But nothing could match the success of the stand-up performer’s own creation—The Joe Rogan Experience, a podcast that bagged him a $200 million deal with the music streaming giants, Spotify.

Rogan, though, recently talked about an activity from Spotify that could’ve been a deal-breaker.

On JRE episode #1836, speaking to guest Ryan Holiday, Rogan said, “The first week of Spotify show—they were like, who’s the guest going to be?”

Read More: How Much Does Spotify Pay Joe Rogan Per Episode?

Rogan immediately shut this down, as he wanted full creative control over his own podcast.

“I’m not doing that. I’m like, that’s not what I do, I put on people that I think are interesting,” offered the JRE host.

The millionaire podcast host added, “I’m going to continue to do it only that way. And when I’m not doing it that way anymore, it wouldn’t be the same show anymore. And I’m going to quit… Like, I have to just have people on that I think are interesting. This is the only criteria I have.”

According to reports, Spotify even wanted to have a group of podcasters to create the same success as Rogan, but couldn’t find an appropriate replacement. Thus, they went along with Joe Rogan’s demands. Rogan’s show has been on top of the mountain ever since.

Joe Rogan did no advertisements to grow his JRE podcast

The longtime UFC announcer started his podcast as a hobby rather than an intention to make money from it. Yet, his podcast became the most followed one in the world.

Rogan wondered, “I never would’ve thought you could become #1 podcaster in the world by just talking to people who you want to talk to.”

The JRE host thought achieving this feat would require one to advertise the show everywhere, but he was proud of this ‘organic thing’.

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What do you make of Joe Rogan’s words? Let us know in the comments section.