No. He could have continued distribution the same way he was prior. He also could have self distributed. He didn’t need a distribution platform because Podcasts don’t require it. Just an RSS feed.

He sold out and this is what happens to sellouts.

In my experience, sellouts build penthouses and then have the clout and capital to start buying up the next crop of sellouts.

Maybe not a penthouse, but...

https://www.workandmoney.com/s/joe-rogans-house-austin-texas...

I don't understand why can't he just put his podcasts up on https://www.joerogan.com/ ?

Why isn't anyone who think they have something to say that might be bad for business or controversial not just self-publish? It's normal that distributors and publications would be unsure about publishing controversial stuff that could be bad PR and bad for business, so self-publishing seems like the way to go.

I think of two reasons:

1. He has an exclusive deal with Spotify preventing it.

2. To reach masses (masses != HN audience) you need to be on Spotify/Apple Music/YouTube. Not technically, but practically, it's a must.

So greed?

Freedom of speech is different from privilege of being advertised.

Forget about the magical think called thepiratebay ?