The bigger their funding, the harder they fall — and it’s been a really, really, really hard fall for podcast startup Luminary this week. The $100 million paid-audio company launched Monday, but without a few popular shows like The Daily and Reply All, which said they did not want to be included in the free tier of Luminary’s app. (Luminary offers a set of its own shows that you can listen to for $8 a month. It also has a free tier, which works essentially like any other podcast app — Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts — in that it includes a lot of shows that are available on the open web.)
Yesterday, another big show — The Joe Rogan Experience — also asked to be withdrawn, making it appear that opting out of Luminary might be a trend for the most popular shows.
Then, after that story ran, Barstool CEO Erika Nardini tweeted that her company’s podcasts would be pulled too.
Add @barstoolsports to the list. Luminary’s rough launch continues as another…
