Joe Budden
Photographer: Brian Ach / Getty Images
Photographer: Brian Ach / Getty Images
Spotify Technology SA is losing Joe Budden, one of the most popular podcast hosts, after failing to agree to a new deal.
Spotify said it was offering Budden a significant increase that reflected its market value. “Unfortunately, we could not agree and we respect his wishes to find a new home for his show,” the company said Thursday.
Budden was Spotify’s first original hit in podcasting, and a sign of his growing ambitions. The former rapper signed a deal in 2018 to make his talk show exclusive to Spotify, and was regularly cited as one of the most popular programs on the platform. His show remains in the top 20 in the US ranking of the app.
Spotify has meanwhile spent hundreds of millions of dollars acquiring podcast companies such as Gimlet Media and the Ringer, and has committed more than $ 100 million to the exclusive rights to Joe Rogan, another popular host.
Budden says that Spotify used him as a guinea pig for this larger strategy, and accused the company of not supporting him. “Spotify has never cared about this podcast individually,” he said on his latest podcast. “Spotify only cared about our contribution to the platform.”
Podcast listening has gone up on Spotify for the past two years, and Budden’s departure won’t cause much of a dent in the short term. However, his claims will resonate in a podcasting community that is already wary of Spotify’s growing power, and could damage Spotify’s reputation among musicians who say the company does not adequately compensate them for their work.
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