Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Two things happened over the past week that hint at the battles to come.
The first involves a brush with misinformation.
That turns out to not be true.
I was very irresponsible not looking into it before I repeated it.
What if the claim was murkier, or less solidly debunked?
Would Spotify have left the episode up?
Would it have added contextualizing indicators on the platform?
And what would Spotifys stance be if public criticism were levied at greater intensity and volume against Rogan?
Would it feel moved to defend Rogan, or seek to evoke some sort of distributor neutrality stance?
The latter is a possible option, theoretically speaking.
(Theres a third wildcard outcome scenario, if you really wanna get five-dimensional chess here.
Kudos to that reader for the imagination, but I dont think Id gothatfar.
The fact that we arent changing our position doesnt mean we arent listening.
It just means we made a different judgment call.
The second thing is the growing labor movement within Spotify.
Spotify shook the podcast world when it went after the big rewards that exclusively signingThe Joe Rogan Experiencewould bring.
Now its time to see whether it can shoulder the risk.
Their first project will be a true crime/con scandal story, natch.
As part of its multi-platform effort to tell this story, theyalso made a podcast.
Song Exploderhas been adapted for television, andits hitting Netflix next month.
Another data point in the narrative about The Ringer positioning itselfto be an ESPN rivalover the long-term.
Im just going toleave this here.
In several of those European markets, Acast has followed the same playbook, i.e.
But North America is a different situation altogether.
Thats plenty of inventory for a homegrown sales team to get started with.
This expansion into Canada sits alongside what the company is already doing in the US and in Mexico.
Back in February they hired Brian Danzis to be Managing Director, Americas out of their New York office.
That would include everything from video to display to native to promotions to connected television.
And podcasting was just one element in our portfolio.
And that was the piece that quickly emerged as sort of the jewel in our crown, she said.
Gordon was also quick to counter any talk of Acast Canada as a rival or competitor to the CBC.
First of all, we do very different things, she said.
Second of all, we are partners with them.
The great thing is its a growing interest from all categories.
Its not just direct to consumer brands, its not just specific clients.
Its finance, its auto with CPG.
So obviously, Im starting my foray into the Acast world in a virtual manner… Cord Jeffersonwas goddamn right: therapy should be free in this country.
Share, leave a review, so on.
But you know what?
Im just going to point you tothis essay that Pashman wrote himselfas part of the tenth year celebrations instead.
Like, really small.
This new show might be the start of an imprint, or it might not.
Pashmans hesitant to oversell the announcement; thats just his way.
He sounded excited when we talked about it, but again, he was reticent to oversell the news.
I wish I could say I had some grand strategic vision, said Pashman.
It was more like a few different things that came together at the same time.
When the prospect was raised, he hesitated, made a worried sound, and pushed it aside.
Besides, hes always had this vaguely Gen X-ish flippancy about overtly capitalistic endeavors.
Besides, hes not really interested in all that.
Not yet, anyway.
You know, that sounds really good to me.
