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# Adiós, Spotify.
- URL: https://www.philsimon.com/adios-spotify/
- Published: 2022-02-07T16:45:35.000Z
- Updated: 2025-12-16T02:21:30.000Z
- Description: Thoughts on platform perversion, The Church Lady, and doing the right thing, consequences be damned.
- Author: Phil Simon
- Tags: Trends, Ethics, Facebook/Meta, Jargon, Spotify, The Age of the Platform

I proudly stand with [Joni Mitchell](https://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=5101&ref=philsimon.com) and Neil Young. As of today, you can no longer find [*Conversations About Collaboration*](https://www.philsimon.com/pod) on [the world's most popular podcast services](https://www.buzzsprout.com/blog/podcast-statistics?ref=philsimon.com)—er, "platform." (Oh, and I've also canceled my Spotify streaming account. We'll see how long the company continues to hold that distinction. The word *tenuous* comes to mind.)

## Platform Perversion

I call bullshit on CEO Daniel Ek's claim that [Spotify is sometimes a platform and other times a publisher](https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/3/22915456/spotify-ceo-joe-rogan-daniel-ek-town-hall-speech-platform-podcast?ref=philsimon.com). In the immortal words of The Church Lady, how convenient.

Sorry, Danny. It doesn't work that way.

When you pay [$100,000,000 to someone for exclusive publication rights](https://www.wsj.com/articles/spotify-strikes-exclusive-podcast-deal-with-joe-rogan-11589913814?ref=philsimon.com), the idea that your company remains a neutral platform is freakin' absurd. (As the author of *The Age of the Platform*, I feel particularly qualified to render judgment here.) Your company is a publisher. Big difference, dude.

Hey, at least he's not alone in practicing [platform perversion](https://www.philsimon.com/advice-to-startups-stop-using-the-word-platform/).

Will my humble actions alone hurt Spotify's business? I'm no fool. If enough people follow suit, then its stock will [continue to tumble](https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/02/03/why-spotify-technology-stock-dropped-189-today/?ref=philsimon.com).

Call it *cancel culture* if you like, but isn't voting with our wallets the ultimate expression of capitalism? My doppelgänger [Scott Galloway](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-prof-g-pod-with-scott-galloway/id1498802610?i=1000549876828&ref=philsimon.com) sure thinks so.

I'm no activist, but I've taken principled stands before that have most likely hurt my business. In 2017, I deleted my Facebook account. (I only wish that I had done so sooner.) Better to burn out than to fade away, right?

## Simon Says

The right to free speech isn't absolute. Clean up Spotify's act, Ek. Your "platform" is causing a great deal of harm.