Charlamagne Tha God Talks Podcast Boom

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio, News.

Romaine Bostick (0:07)

A splash in the world of podcasting, Joe Rogan, notching a multi-year deal with Spotify, reportedly worth $250 million. I had a chance to catch up with another figure in the media space, Charlamagne Tha God. He's the host of the radio program and podcast, The Breakfast Club, and I asked him about the podcast boom, the economics of him, and more importantly, the economics of the media empire that he's been trying to build. Take a listen.

Charlamagne Tha God (0:32)

Well, all of these people are in the audience game. They want to generate as much audience as possible. They want as many eyeballs as possible. They're treating their platforms the same way social media treats it. Social media wants engagement. They want our attention. They want our time. They want our eyeballs as much as possible. And a platform like Netflix is doing the same thing. Like, they know, hey man, people aren't just watching TV. People aren't just watching movies. They're not just watching documentaries. They're tuned in to podcasts. Let's get into the podcasting business.

Romaine Bostick (0:58)

Just the other day, before this conversation, we learned that Spotify had re-upped its deal with Joe Rogan. It's reportedly about $250 million. It's a licensing deal. So it's a little bit different than what you have with iHeart. And I am curious as to the structure of your deal with iHeart, which is also reported to be in the $200 million range.

Charlamagne Tha God (1:16)

Really?

Romaine Bostick (1:17)

Yeah. Who reported that? Well, Bloomberg has reported that. But I am curious about your platform is a little bit different than what he does. And I would think there would be a little bit more value to that. And I know you don't necessarily just look at, okay, well, he got this much, I should get this much. But do you look at what you have now and think whenever it comes time to renegotiate it, that the value should be incredibly higher than what it currently is?

Charlamagne Tha God (1:38)

I don't pay attention to what anybody else is doing, man. I feel like, you know, comparison is the thief of joy. Like, I am blessed black and highly favored. You know, I don't want to get paid a dollar more than I'm worth, and I don't want to get paid a dollar less than I'm worth. I don't even like to use the word worth. I like to use the word value, because the reality of the situation is, I don't think you can ever get paid your worth. Like, we're human beings, you know, we're priceless. You can never pay somebody like LeBron James for what he does to a city. Like, the Sixes could never pay him enough money, or the Lakers, or whoever he's played with. But the reality of the situation is your value. Like, you can look at your data, and you can look at your analytics, and you can compare it to other things that's going on in the marketplace. But I can't even compare myself to what, you know, Joe Rogan does, because Joe Rogan has a podcast. I'm a radio personality, you know. So I have the morning radio show that I do at the Breakfast Club. That also comes out as a podcast. But then I've also built this amazing business, this amazing infrastructure with iHeart called the Black Effect Podcast Network. We have, you know, 60 podcasts on our platform, and we do very well when it comes to, you know, revenue, advertising dollars, when it comes to, you know, listenership. So I'm not even comparing myself to anything that anybody else is doing, and I'm fully aware of how unique my situation is.

Romaine Bostick (2:53)

But you've always been pretty open-minded about discussing politics, not just sort of, you know, staying in a lane of left or right. Absolutely.

Charlamagne Tha God (2:59)

I believe in right or wrong. That's about it.

Romaine Bostick (3:01)

Well, give me a sense as to what people are feeling, because on this, on my show, we talk a lot to people on Wall Street about how they're feeling, and they're feeling good because they're making a lot of money. But there's a much different economy out there for the people on the ground. I assume a lot of people who listen to your show. So when I look at economic data like came out today, the show's consumer sentiment at multi-year lows. Are you hearing the same thing from the people who engage on your show or on some of your other platforms?

Charlamagne Tha God (3:26)

100 percent. You ask me how people are feeling, people are feeling broke.