If you’ve been growing content and community and wondering whether it pays, ask Joe Rogan. He just got paid $100 million to move his podcast to Spotify.

This is a really big deal for three reasons:

REASON NO.1 FOR JOE:

This deal makes Joe the world’s highest paid interviewer (and now one of the Top 10 paid celebrities) with his podcast, which he started from home ten years ago with a microphone and video camera.

It took three years for his “Joe Rogan Experience” to get to 1 million monthly downloads, five years to get to over 10 million, and another five to get to to over 200 million monthly downloads. Today he interviews the likes of Elon Musk, Edward Snowden, Neil Degrasse Tyson and Mike Tyson.

It was the consistency over ten years that attracted his community. He doesn’t create his own content and he doesn’t pay for any of the guests. That community is now worth $100 million to Spotify.

REASON NO.2 FOR SPOTIFY:

While Spotify is paying $100 million, news of the deal led to Spotify’s market value jump from $7.8 billion from $28 billion to $35.8 billion in value. That means the company has already got a x78 return on their investment.

That’s bad news for Apple and Youtube, where Joe has been broadcasting his podcasts, as he moves them all to Spotify. It’s also bad news for traditional media, as it shows the value of podcasts and streaming where people want homegrown content and community where they want, when they want it.

Spotify is now more than double the value of traditional media and cable companies like 21st Century Fox ($17B), DISH Network ($15B) and Viacom CBS ($12B).

REASON NO.3 FOR YOU AND ME:

In a world where we trust big media and mass content less, and we trust communities and curated content more, everyone is gravitating to the people they trust.

Joe is more of an integrator than an influencer. He is more of a curator than a creator. He knows his community and brings to them information and inspiration tailored to them.

Influencers shine a light on themselves. Integrators shine a light on their community.

Spotify’s $100 million deal is betting on a new future where the integrators and curators will be the most valuable sources of trusted content and connected communities.

Joe’s journey is far longer than the ten years running his podcast. At 52 years old, he’s spent his life trying to earn an income as a comedian, and started commentating for the UFC in return for free tickets. By cutting out the middleman and going straight to building his own community, his show now attracts double the audience that the SuperBowl gets. And it attracts them back every month.

If you’re collecting the content you trust, and sharing it with your community, be like Joe:

Be consistent
Grow slowly
Stay authentic

“One of the most fascinating lessons I’ve absorbed about life is that the struggle is good.” - Joe Rogan

Source: ROGER HAMILTON