What's The Actual Reason "Heavyweight" and "Stolen" Were Canceled

Spotify announced that it was canceling two popular -- and high-quality -- podcasts -- Heavyweight and Stolen. Both podcasts have sizable audiences and are critically acclaimed.

Simultaneously, Spotify announced that it was laying off 1,500 employees despite its rosy and profitable third quarter numbers.

Here's the horrendous part -- even above that of people losing their jobs. THE STOCK PRICE OF SPOTIFY JUMPED UP SIX PERCENT ON THOSE TWO PIECES OF NEWS.

My first reaction is to scream WTF Spotify, but since I'm not a Spotify stockholder, it would be like yelling into a hurricane wind.

My analytical brain has now reestablished control, and I can now assess these Spotify moves more rationally.

Seriously, Spotify. WTF.

Okay, I'm ready to move on.

First, the utter disregard for Spotify's customers (the faithful listeners) appears to be a business move that could blow back on them. You don't believe me? Check out a TV streamer like Max, where head bean counter and filthy rich CEO David Zaslav has canceled completed films like Batgirl, canceled TV shows, eviscerated the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) network and removed legacy content, all to pay down debt and boost the stock price. Max has paid for those betrayals with increased churn. When you do stuff like that, you get the customers you deserve. Those ready to bolt to your competitor at a moment's notice. You have to show loyalty to get loyalty.

Second, content creators will be wary in the future of working with a company like Spotify. After all, Heavyweight and Stolen were not struggling podcasts or hurting for listeners. In fact, Stolen won a Peabody Award, and a Pulitzer Prize. So, for podcasters, the message is clear: Even if your podcast is successful on our network, our stock price comes first above all else.

Third, who has paid for Spotify's irrational exuberance when they overpaid for podcast networks, podcast talent, and overbuilt a podcast infrastructure that, in no way, matched existing customer demand?

The answer: Listeners, who were promised podcast nirvana, and employees, who were hired to feed this monster of unrealistic expectations. Did investors balk when Spotify bungee jumped into podcasting without checking its safety harness?

And it's not just Spotify. Vox is one of my favorite, less-evil networks, but recently it canceled Into It with Sam Sanders. Now, Sanders is one of the best podcast hosts in the industry, which he demonstrated in his 12 years at NPR.

How is it that a pro like Sam Sanders lost his job when Spotify's Joe Rogan can use his podcast to release climate disinformation with the so-called “Adam and Eve” theory — which spuriously claims Earth’s magnetic fields will shift and cause catastrophic effects across the planet?

Vox also owns SB Nation, which covers major sports in written and audio formats. Here's one of its recent headlines: "NHL interview interrupted by loud fart, and no one could ignore it."

And Vox somehow can't afford to keep Sam Sanders. Follow Vox's logic. Fart stories = clickbait = more customers = more ads = more revenue = more profits = higher stock price. Ta-Da.

Finally, isn't anyone else disturbed that these announcements of layoffs always mean a bump in the stock price. What stockholder / entity is rewarding this behavior? Pension funds? Institutional investors? Batshit crazy and narcissistic billionaires? What sadists are cheering when 1,500 people lose their jobs at Spotify? Now, they can afford a second home in Aspen and that helicopter pad for their daughter, who just got into an Ivy League University after Daddy made a large donation.

I recall in 2019 speaking with someone touting the rising Dow and saying that his vote for president was entirely reliant on how the Chief Executive drives up the value of his 401k nest egg.

Later that year, he was laid off because his company closed the plant he had worked out for 20 years so that they could use more money for a stock buyback to -- you guessed it -- drive up its stock price. So, my question to that person would be: Is it worth getting a bump in your 401k when you lose your job and the security it brings you and your family?

Back to podcasting. Sure, podcasting has seen its boom cycle burst and the inevitable disagreeable consequences that result. There are always innocent victims in a flamed-out boom cycle. It's like a star going supernova. There's a bright light, then a gigantic explosion. In the case of podcasting, it's shrinkage and not the kind on a Seinfeld episode. No, it's the human kind -- jobs, lives, aspirations.

Yet, are Heavyweight, Stolen, Sam Sanders, WNYC, NPR and others victims of the balloon bursting? Or is it that these organizations are simply chasing a higher stock price? Greater profits? Or worse? Putting out the lowest-cost product (podcasts) and getting the biggest return in profitability and stock price?

Will podcast networks become the Dollar General of podcasting? Lower production costs, low-cost unknown talent, barely passable sound production quality, ads every three minutes, and shows that tackle nothing more complex than strategies for silently farting in public.

Right now, all I can say is, "I'm thankful for the thousands of indie podcasters that keep up the level of excellence in podcasting driven by the love of the format, not because of a quarterly dividend."

Thank you, Amanda B.(6 Degrees Of Cats), Sarah Reinhardt and Louise Browne (Adoption: The Making Of Me), Evan Stern (Vanishing Postcards), Matt Gilhooly (The Life Shift), Jennica Sadhwani (Multispective), Jenn Trepeck (Salad With A Side Of Fries), Joe Casabona (Podcast Workflows), Frank Bailey, Chris Saunders (Nerdpreneur), Margo Donohue, Sonia Mansfield (What A Creep), and Arielle Nissenblatt (Feedback With EarBuds).

These people are the soul of podcasting. Daniel Ek of Spotify is certainly no "heavyweight," and he has "stolen" the delight many listeners receive when listening to high-quality, entertaining podcasts.

So, I end where I began. WTF Spotify?