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According to reports, less than 10% of Spotify’s Joe Rogan apologies fund has been used

It’s possible that Spotify’s financial apology for Joe Rogan’s remarks hasn’t done anything so far. Bloomberg sources allege that in its first year of existence, the streaming service spent less than 10% of its $100 million Creator Equity Fund, a fund created to promote diversity in podcasts and music. According to reports, the corporation intended to use the entire cash over a three-year period, but it hasn’t had a reliable system in place for approving spending and has been reluctant to hire personnel. According to the sources, shifting objectives have also harmed the initiative.

Parcast, a Spotify podcast network, has previously come under fire from its unionised employees for not investing enough money. They protested to management in February that only $5,000 of the $100,000 set aside for diversity plans had been approved by the business.

In a statement to Engadget, Spotify didn’t address the funding allegations. Instead, it highlighted the current initiatives that the fund had backed. For example, there are marketing initiatives for Black musicians like Kaytranada, the LGBTQ music promotion programme Glow, and the most recent growth of the NextGen podcast funding project to assist growth at historically Black institutions and universities. Latina/Latino creators have also benefited from the Creator Equity Fund.

The company started the fund in response to the artist-led outrage against Joe Rogan for allegedly facilitating the dissemination of COVID-19 vaccination misinformation through his podcast, which is only available on Spotify. While that served as the impetus, detractors also cited Rogan’s use of racist and transphobic words. Spotify has defended signing Rogan in 2020 on numerous occasions, but has since removed some of the episodes that contained offensive language. Its agreement with the podcaster is said to be for 3.5 years and be valued at least $200 million.