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Courage in January

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My Word of the Year was Courage. What took Courage this month?

Taking my podcast off Spotify and posting about it.

Yes, this was scary for me. I knew how some folks in my life felt about Joe Rogan and even though I didn’t have the time nor energy to fight with people on the internet, my hyperfocus this weekend ended up being preparing for a fight, just in case.

Actually, all that preparation came in handy when I was in my DMs a lot more than usual over the weekend talking to other indie podcasters who were thinking about doing the same thing. Many of them ended up doing it, too!

I was really surprised that just by taking what I thought would be a small, unnoticed action, it actually created a lot of conversation and I was happy to entertain it. Most of it was supportive, or at least neutral and curious. I provided links, sources and facts, as well as what I would hope podcasters consider before making any knee-jerk reactions.

In an Instagram Story that can be found in my Podcasting Highlight, I talked about how as a Podcasting Educator and Consultant, I usually tell podcasters and soon-to-be-podcasters that in order to reach listeners, it’s a good idea to be on as many podcast apps as they can, including the big 4 — Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher.

But as a podcast creator, I don’t want my podcast episodes on a platform that uses the money from advertisements to pay and promote someone who gives a platform to those responsible for a lot of the COVID-19 misinformation out there that keeps our resources choked, the cost of living skyrocketing, our hospitals overcrowded and medical staff overworked and underappreciated, and not to mention the burnt out parents watching our kids collectively go through trauma that seems to have no end in sight.

When the 270 medical professionals and scientists penned a letter to Spotify asking for them to take action against misleading information on their platform a few weeks earlier, I hoped to see some shift. But Spotify didn’t seem to care or even respond.

And then Neil Young stepped in.

In one of Neil Young’s open letters to Spotify (now deleted from his website but can be found here), he wrote:

“Misinformation about COVID cannot be accepted. I sincerely hope that other artists can make a move, but I can’t really expect that to happen. I did this because I had no choice in my heart. It is who I am. I am not censoring anyone. I am speaking my own truth.”

Neil Young didn’t have to draw a line in the sand for me to stand next to him on this. I loved that he made the point that it’s not about censorship. I only had to have one uncomfortable conversation about that this weekend, but it was nice to dust off my journalism degree to talk about how using the first amendment as a counter-argument was misleading, since no one is asking congress to make a law prohibiting anyone’s freedom of speech.

As for folks tossing around their favorite buzzwords like “censorship” and “cancel culture” or claiming that people are trying to control what they listen to, this is actually what a free market looks like. And it’s working exactly as it is intended to. Neil Young sparked listeners and subscribers to pay attention to what was happening on a platform and, in turn, they decided to use their wallets to make a difference. And they did, because Spotify responded Sunday night with this statement put out on Spotify’s blog.

When Neil put out his statement, it made sense for me to join him and since I own the rights to do as I please with my podcast (my art, as Paula Jenkins from Jumpstart Your Joy reminded me), I’m with Neil on this. And now Joni, and possibly Brené (as of this writing)!

I’ll be watching as this unfolds more. Since Spotify put out a statement and revamped some of their policies, it’ll be interesting to see what happens. I also saw Joe Rogan’s statement on Instagram as well, but, again, it’s not about him. It’s more looking to see what Spotify does.

Here’s where I’ll put my podcasting consultant hat back on for a moment for podcasters out there considering leaving as well, but feeling hesitant about pulling the plug.

Let’s talk about the fact that Spotify is currently the #2 podcast app out there. It’s not a close #2, by the way. It’s at 12.75% listenership, as opposed to Apple Podcasts at 64.4% listenership (SOURCE: Rob Walch/Libsyn’s The Feed).

For my show, The Story Behind, it’s actually the #4 app my listeners use to listen so that actually made my decision to leave a bit easier, to be honest. For anyone currently considering taking their podcast off of Spotify, if your hosting company provides you with a breakdown of the apps your listeners use, check it out to see how much of your audience is actually on Spotify. This is something I suggested to a lot of podcasters on the fence with their own decisions. I also suggested feeling out their listeners to see what leaving Spotify would mean to them. Especially if they’re expecting a podcast episode on a certain day and all of a sudden it’s not there at all.

For my show, since I haven’t put out an episode in about 3 years, I had a feeling my audience wouldn’t necessarily be expecting anything new any time soon. I’m so grateful and honestly surprised that the podcast still gets a few hundred downloads daily, but, as I said, the vast majority of those aren’t coming from Spotify at all. But it still meant I would need to create a statement to let those listeners know the show would no longer be available on Spotify.

I put out this Tweet.

It was something I had actually written the night before, along with a draft of the email I sent to my hosting company to take my podcast down from Spotify. (If you’re a Libsyn customer, you can find out more about removing your podcast from Spotify HERE ). I mention that I wrote it the night before because I made sure to sleep on the decision instead of making a knee-jerk move, like I’ve been known to do.

One thing I realized the next morning was that if things were to change, I could always put my show back on Spotify. There’s no permanence to this decision and no one says there has to be. Except for me since it’s my podcast, after all.

In the Tweet and Instagram post, I wanted to make sure to let listeners know other apps they can use to listen to the podcast. You never know who’s looking for new podcast app recommendations right now since a lot of folks left Spotify this past weekend.

Posting the tweet was nerve-wracking. I was entering into the fray. And, honestly, I’m glad I did it sooner rather than waiting. I’ve currently been talking to a lot of podcasters on the fence about this and it’s no fun when you come face to face with your values when it comes to your art. It’s messy. But in the end, I think it’s a good exercise to re-evaluate them every so often.

When I signed into my social media apps and saw the notification and DM buttons turn red, I would get pangs of worry at what they were going to say. But I was pleasantly surprised to see lots of Likes! And the DMs ended up being some of the deepest conversations I think I’ve gotten into parasocially in a while. And I was happy to know I wasn’t the only one wrestling with this over the snowed-in weekend we had.

That said, I think I need some social media detox time after all the time I spent hyperfocusing on finding out all the news I could about the issue and now taking much longer to write about it than I intended. Though I’ll leave you with one of my favorite Tweets that came out of this whole weekend that said, “embarrassed for the human race that Joni Mitchell had to find out who Joe Rogan is” 😂

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