"Stay Free : The Story of the Clash" is missing

[jasonallenross]

My Question or Issue

I want to listen to this podcast but it's nowhere to be found. The link doesn't work and I can't find it by searching. There are plenty of other publicity links, and it's linked on the Strummer Foundation page but none of the links work.

https://newsroom.spotify.com/2019-02-28/the-story-of-iconic-punk-rockers-the-clash-comes-to-spotify/

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

Pixel 3a

Operating System

Android

[CarlosE]

Hi there @jasonallenross,

Thanks for reaching out to the Community.

It looks like that specific content isn't available right now. Even though we'd love to have all your favorite content in Spotify, availability varies over time and between countries. It all depends on permissions from rights holders.

We add new content every day, so if you can’t find something, it may appear (or reappear) soon.

Hope this clears things up. If you need anything else, the Community is here for you.

Cheers 🙂

[jnpb]

This podcast was commissioned by Spotify to the BBC to produce, so doesn't Spotify own the rights? Can you license it to another streaming service if you don't want to broadcast it yourself?

[jamesklambert]

No, it doesn't clear it up. I see a number of people online looking for this and Spotify still has ads up for it on YouTube and elsewhere. You need to negotiate the rights issues necessary to put the show back on Spotify!

Thank you,

JKL

[jasonallenross]

I find it ironic that I can have a podcast named  "<BLEEP> town" and a bunch of astrology garbage pushed on me in my podcast suggestions, and have splash screens showing up pushing podcasts in the app, but the one podcast on Spotify I actually WANT to listen to, which was actually made by Spotify, is nowhere to to be found, although their press link still shows up in search results.

I did also contact the BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/bbcstudios/2019/spotify-partnership-the-clash) and the person from the BBC said they produced it for Spotify and they own the content. 

It's really odd that podcast content would ever be taken down. In comparison with things like videos, the file sizes are really quite modest, and syndication isn't hard. Since they are "long form" entertainment, it's often the case that they gather audiences by word of mouth. I just checked and "The History of Rome", a 150+ episode podcast that I listened to started in 2007, all episodes are still available, and people are still talking about it and listening to it today.

[W3n]

It was a Spotify produced product that was advertised heavily in the front page and now it isn't available on the service that paid for it? Something seems wrong about that. That's crazy talk.

[rjohn002]

Can we please get some answers on this? It was a Spotify-produced podcast and I hadn’t finished it.  I will no longer be investing in long-form entertainment produced by Spotify if there’s no guarantee it will stay up.  

[rjohn002]

This is a generic answer that is most likely auto-populated to respond to any question about whether this or that item isn’t on Spotify.

[rjohn002]

Still no answers on why this content was taken down and whether we can expect to ever see it back on Spotify?  

[rjohn002]

Please circle back on this -- https://community.spotify.com/t5/Other-Podcasts-Partners-etc/quot-Stay-Free-The-Story-of-the-Clash-q...

[Garsparagus420]

I agree, I listened to this a few years ago and wanted to show it to my girlfriend. I wonder if this is an attempt to manufacture scarcity. 

[airvonb]

I would love to find a way to listen to this also.

[bullsh1tpt2]

The only possible answer here is record companies limiting the songs used within the podcast…but doesn’t Spotify own the rights to broadcast those as well?  And isn’t it a form of advertising for the music that those companies own?  It seems likely some aspect of those rights are being disputed by some party…for a podcast named Stay Free. Smmfh. 

[Filmblender]

Would be great to get an actual answer to this with some details- any chance Spotify will be making this available again?

[airvonb]

Agreed, I'd really like to know if we'll ever hear this again.

[Garrettdidomizio]

If there’s a way to get Spotify to put this back up it would be awesome. It was a great podcast that me and my brother loved and our friends were disappointed that they couldn’t listen to it. 

[tankdayglo]

Please put this back up, it's ridiculous it was taken down in the first place.

[tankdayglo]

It’s very disappointing this still hasn’t been addressed. Is this podcast just lost forever?

[livinlovinmaid]

@Spotify this isn’t very punk rock of you…

Jokes aside. This was one of the most phenomenal pieces of storytelling I have ever had the pleasure to listen to, and I can’t count the times I’ve wanted to recommend it to a friend only to remember that it has vanished without explanation. For such an extremely influential band with a solid place in the tower of song, could someone please release a proper answer, if there’s no way to reinstate the podcast? Such a shame that this account of history is just being wiped away with scarcely a trace.

[airvonb]

This is an excellent example and lesson as to why podcasters and other content creators should never post their work to Spotify or allow Spotify to manage your podcast or content.  There are hundreds of other hosting options that would never disappear your content with no explanation and never allow it to be heard again.