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(JRE/Spotify)
Packing his home up around this time last year and heading to the Hill Country, Joe Rogan was riding a high: the podcast king had just secured a deal with Spotify worth at least $100 million. But one year later, that same deal seems to be weighing down his growth.
That's not to say Rogan's success has evaporated. The MMA enthusiast's podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, still sits at No. 1 on Spotify's top podcast charts and reaches 200 million people monthly.
But his Spotify success may be the very reason for stagnant audience growth, The Verge reports. An investigation by the tech and entertainment site reveals "The Joe Rogan Experience" has declined in how it boosts guests and Rogan's overall presence as compared to before the big deal made his show exclusively available on Spotify.
The Verge looked at two main data sets to come to that conclusion:
- How many Twitter followers his guests gained after going on the podcast
- Rogan's relevance on Google Trends
Since Spotify hasn't provided numbers on Rogan's listenership, analytics tool Social Blade was used to track the Twitter following of every guest with under 500,000 followers who went on the podcast between December 2019 and July 2021. The data showed that after the Spotify deal, guests would gain 2,000 followers after their appearance, half as many as before.
While the timing lines up with the Spotify deal that constrains Rogan's content to only Spotify (as opposed to stretching across multiple platforms like YouTube), The Verge acknowledges it could be associated with a drop in listeners to podcasts overall after the thick of the pandemic.
But his overall relevance has fallen as well. Rogan's name was regularly searched in 2020, the Google Trends data shows. But those searches dipped after going exclusive on Spotify, with fewer spikes in searches for his name. Still, some can remember two times this year he made headlines for speaking out against healthy people getting vaccines and the efficiency of vaccines.
His Spotify deal is likely the reason for a decline in his relevance, The Verge reports, as some of his listeners didn't switch over to the platform when he made the switch. But fewer listeners may just be worth the chunk of money and Austin lifestyle that came after his contract.
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(Bob Daemmrich)
After months of speculation, a new report says political personality Beto O'Rourke is mulling a run for Texas governor that he will announce later this year.
Sources tell Axios the former congressman is preparing his campaign for the 2022 election, where he will likely vie for the position against incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott. The only other candidate that has announced he will take on Abbott for governor is former Texas GOP Chairman Allen West—no Democrats have announced they are running as of yet.
"No decision has been made," Axios reports David Wysong, O'Rourke's former House chief of staff and a longtime adviser, said. "He has been making and receiving calls with people from all over the state."
A new poll from The Dallas Morning News and University of Texas at Tyler shows O'Rourke is narrowing the gap between himself and Abbott's prospects for governor. In the poll, 37% said they'd vote for O'Rourke over Abbott, while 42% said they'd vote for Abbott.
Abbott has been in the hot seat due to his handling of COVID-19 and the signing of landmark legislation into law, including new abortion and voting rights laws; 54% of poll respondents voted they think the state is headed in the "wrong direction." Still, Texas hasn't had a Democrat as governor since the 90s.
O'Rourke's people-focused approach to the 2018 Senator race, which he lost to Sen. Ted Cruz, gave him a widespread following and many hoped he'd throw his hat into the ring since he said he was considering it earlier this year.
"We hope that he's going to run," Gilberto Hinojosa, the state chair of the Democratic Party, told Axios. "We think he'll be our strongest candidate. We think he can beat Abbott because he's vulnerable."
Jordi is an Austin-based rapper who represented Texas at the 2021 Red Bull Batalla. (Esparza)
Austin rapper Jordi Esparza may not have won the 2021 Red Bull Batalla, the world's largest Spanish freestyle rap competition, but for a spirited two rounds, the 22-year old Mexican native looked like he had every right to.
On Saturday evening in Los Angeles, the event itself looked like Cobra Kai meets Star Search with graphics adding a very Batman Beyond aesthetic. Over a dozen rappers hoping to represent the U.S. in the international round of the competition took to the stage with in-your-face jabs at accents, sexual orientation and odors, among other things.
This was Esparza's second rodeo; he had placed third at the 2020 National Finals, automatically securing him a spot this year.
However, things were different this year. He was not nervous about the contest. Unlike in 2020, when he made his Red Bull Batalla debut, the anxiety of the event led him to "feeling so bad."
Affecting a casual calm, the locally-based landscaper said he just felt "so relaxed, so happy" and primarily wanted to "enjoy everything."
Choosing his first-round opponent, Esparza, whose stage name is Jordi, elected to go against LA-based Boss.
Esparza freestyled an attack on his opponent's weight and cholo style of dress.
Boss—bracketing his Latin freestyle with English appeals to the crowd—mocked Jordi's lack of education, made fun of how clean Jordi's shoes looked and suggested that Jordi just came back from a Footlocker.
That first round went to Jordi.
But his next opponent Eckonn would prove to be his undoing.
Eckonn compared Jordi to Hannah Montana, while Jordi soulfully explained that he had learned from the best.
Esparza's verbal dexterity is matched by a rattling rhythm and a game face that is as mawkish as it is mockish. The overall effect is that of an underdog with bite.
Eckonn beat Esparza in that round with the overall championship going to Palm Beach-based rapper Reverse.
However, Esparza was just happy to be there. He recently told Austonia going to the finals again was a dream come true—a pinnacle that he said he won't know how to top.
With his nimble jabs and sneaky prowess, honed from pop culture and the swagger of a young working man hungry to be more, Jordi Esparza is just getting started.
