Changing priorities have also hurt the project, the insiders say.

The company reportedly planned to spend the whole fund over three years, but hasn't had a solid structure for approving spending and has been slow to hire staff. Bloomberg sources claim the streaming service has spent less than 10 percent of its $100 million Creator Equity Fund, a pool meant to foster diversity in podcasts and music, in its first year of operation. The Times' new report also revealed that director Ava DuVernay, after announcing a deal with Spotify last year, has now also severed ties with the company.Spotify's financial apology for Joe Rogan's comments may not amount to much so far. Rogan has apologized for using racial slurs and vowed to 'balance' out the guests on his show, and Spotify has removed dozens of old episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience.īut Spotify has also repeatedly defended Rogan amid the controversy. Earlier this month, The Verge reported that CEO Daniel Ek told employees that 'there are many things that Joe Rogan says that I strongly disagree with and find very offensive' but that 'our business wouldn't be where it is today' had Spotify not made deals like the one with Rogan, and Ek also argued that 'canceling voices is a slippery slope.' In recent weeks, though, Spotify has been embroiled in controversy after Neil Young and other artists began to pull their music from the platform in protest of COVID-19 misinformation spread on Rogan's show, and Rogan has also come under fire for using the N-word numerous times in the past. Under the deal, Rogan's show became an exclusive to Spotify, and The Joe Rogan Experience is currently the most popular podcast on the platform.

The Times' report describes how the size of Spotify's deal with Rogan was 'extraordinary' considering, for example, its purchase of Gimlet Media and The Ringer reportedly came out to less than $200 million each.

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