Spotify and Joe Rogan agreed to a multi-year extension of the podcast deal. Both sides declined to disclose terms and no dollar figure was released, but the Wall Street Journal reports the renewal is similar to Rogan's previous deal, which carried an estimated $250 million earnout. The show, which launched in 2009, is Spotify's most-followed podcast at 18 million followers. Rogan called it "an amazing fit."
A podcast deal announcement with no number in it is a number doing the press tour. Both sides "declined to disclose terms," the Wall Street Journal did the math, and the "$250M" — estimated earnout on the old deal, renewed at "similar terms" — did the walking. That is what nine-figure media business looks like from the press room: a man in a chair telling a record label what he is worth in increments his lawyers cannot say out loud.
The product was never the audio. Spotify first paid for exclusivity — the privilege of being the only place the man could exist. Now the show is multi-platform and the renewal came anyway, which proves the platform's fear: the audio can go anywhere, but the chair, the lights, the can, the 2,500 episodes — that square footage is the most valuable thing on the service.
Rogan's "amazing fit" and Spotify's "nothing else like it" are what two companies say when the number cannot be printed. The show is 17 years old and still renegotiates like a stadium lease: threaten to leave while standing inside the building.
YOUR TURN: When the number cannot be printed, what does "similar terms" actually mean?
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