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When Spotify struck its exclusive licensing deal with The Joe Rogan Experience in 2020, the chief executive of a major podcast company texted me shortly after the news went out: “Game, set, match.”
At that moment, there was no other way to look at it. The deal, later reported to be worth $100 million, offered a road map for how Spotify was going to achieve what CEO Daniel Ek had declared was to be its “audio-first” future after buying podcast start-ups Gimlet Media and…
