The title of the article implies that Spotify had a plan. I don't think that's accurate. Unless their plan was "1. sign Joe Rogan 2. ??? 3. Profit", implying

The title of the article implies that Spotify had a plan. I don't think that's accurate. Unless their plan was "1. sign Joe Rogan 2. ??? 3. Profit", implying that they had a plan at all is stretching it. They are a digital music platform, nothing more, and nothing less. They waded into unknown territory, spent a ton of money (that should have been going to artists already on their platform) making a stupid bet that backfired. They did this while having little real revenue outside ads and subscriptions. They angered their primary userbase and alienated content providers. The inevitable blowup was foreseeable.