Joe Rogan announces exclusive deal with Spotify

Popular podcaster Joe Rogan announced Tuesday he’s moving “The Joe Rogan Experience” exclusively to Spotify starting in September.

“I am not going to be an employee of Spotify. We’re going to be working with the same crew, doing the exact same show,” Rogan assured listeners. “The only difference will be it will now be available on the largest audio platform in the world. Nothing else will change. It will be free. It will be free to you, you just have to go Spotify to get it.”

Rogan, 52, reportedly earned $30 million in revenue last year with 190 million downloads per month for the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast on YouTube, where he currently has more than 8.4 million subscribers.

Rogan’s is also invariably the first- or second most-listened to podcast on Apple. 

“Since its launch in 2009, the pioneering Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) has broken ground and built one of the most loyal and engaged fan bases in the world,” said Spotify in a Tuesday press release. “Rogan brings his sensibilities as a stand-up comic to the show, and alongside dynamic and diverse guests, he fearlessly broaches far-ranging topics including neuroscience, sports, comedy, health, infectious disease, and our ever-changing culture — all with a mix of curiosity and humor.”

The terms of the deal were not publicly disclosed.

Spotify, a music services provider, was launched in 2008. It currently has more than 130 premium subscribers. 

Rogan, a former host of NBC’s “Fear Factor,” supported Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary and has been critical of presumptive nominee former Vice President Joe Biden. 

“One of the problems that the Democratic Party is having right now with this Joe Biden guy,” he said earlier this month. “You guys got to be able to call it out. You can’t let this slide, because everybody else sees it and [President] Trump is going to eat him alive. He’s going to eat that guy alive.”

“The guy can barely remember what he’s talking about while he’s talking,” Rogan contended, at one point playing a montage of Biden’s gaffes in recent weeks.