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Comment by joshuahaglund | Hacker News Reader

Spotify has a multi-year contract with Rogan, paying him more than $100 million for exclusive content.

That does make me want to switch platforms.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/spotify-strikes-exclusive-podca...

May I suggest the platform of...physical media? I know, retrograde! Inconvenient! Etc! But you can rip your media and get back a lot of the convenience, and if you want you can listen to music without involving a screen.

I was never, ever okay with a big company knowing and controlling how, when, and how long I listen to my music. I dabbled, but I found it far more creepy, somehow, than even letting Google host my email (which is far more intimate, after all). So to you I say: come on back, the water is fine.

That doesn’t fill Spotifys niche. I can listen to the music I like a million ways, even pirating if I want, but Spotify suggests new music (even though it’s nowhere near as good as Pandora was when I used it years ago.)

Let me suggest KEXP and KCRW. They stream and have YouTube channels.

I'd add WFMU (edit: also KXLU) to your list. But I still like to be able to skip songs and change to a whole new playlist/genre/album with basically zero effort or costs if I feel like binging on a genre. Which basically means I'm going to be subscribed to some streaming service. Youtube is a good option.

I remember the days when musicians would mention music they like in interviews, me hearing it and then going on a search to find it. Back then I would've thought Spotify to be an improvement on that.

Turns out that it's not.

Not only that, but it's rumored that Rogan negotiated significant creative freedom into the contract. If Spotify were to capitulate to Young's request, they'd most likely be breaking their contract with Rogan. In which case Rogan could just put his podcast back on all the other podcasting platforms again (or even just distribute it from his own website). Young thinking he has any leverage to silence Rogan here is laughable. I suspect he's either senile, extremely narcissistic, or both.

>Young thinking he has any leverage to silence Rogan here is laughable. I suspect he's either senile, extremely narcissistic, or both.

... he's always been extremely vocal politically and socially, this is really no different. But yeah, sure, let's call him senile/narcissistic.

What's laughable is that so many people think Neil Young cares if Spotify carries his music, as if he needs the money or exposure.

He's making a statement that Joe Rogan is polluting our minds. Spotify is promoting and paying Rogan, with an exclusive contract. Will this change anything? We'll see, probably not. But I'm sure Neil Young doesn't care if his music isn't on Spotify, as long as they're funding Rogan's BS.

> He's making a statement that Joe Rogan is polluting our minds.

I'm reminded of a line from The Prophet:

“Think you the spirit is a still pool which you can trouble with a staff?”

No one's mind is polluted any other way than one's own carelessness. Somehow you've managed to discern that Rogan's information is polluting and manage to survive with a mind that is still capable of good reason - I'm sure you think so. Why do you not credit others with this ability?

I once heard "Advertising doesn't work on me, I'm too smart."

But we're all susceptible to suggestion and sensationalism, and some to a greater degree. The fact that this company is paying him millions, and probably making more, creates a perverse incentive to sustain and promote him and his nonsense.

Again, somehow you are able to discern Rogan's nonsense - how do you do it?

Then we can move on to the fallacy of the infallibility of judgement (which ties in nicely with the quote you provided) that J.S. Mill points out in his arguments against censorship.

Is this what they call a red herring?

No, it’s a straightforward question that I would be eager for you to answer. How do you manage to discern what Rogan outputs as nonsense while managing not to be polluted by it?

If it’s innate that would be interesting but it would be even better for us all if you would share your methods and then we could all benefit.

I mean, you're either trolling or incredibly daft to think it's my job to teach you how to think

Now, now, this is HN, not Facebook.

I would counter that possibly the greatest of all philosophers, Socrates, used this very technique (that now bears his name) to uncover the flaws in someone’s thinking.

So, the question stands.

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