CommonX Podcast Departs Spotify as Hosting Platform
CommonX Podcast has officially ended its relationship with Spotify as a hosting platform.
This decision wasn’t driven by outrage or trend-chasing. It was driven by alignment.
As a platform built to amplify artists, musicians, and independent voices, we refuse to allow our work to be exploited in ways that conflict with our values — whether that means contributing to systems that underpay creators, silence artists, or normalize industries that profit from war and human suffering.
Culture should never be collateral damage.
Art should never be disposable.
And creators should never be treated as fuel for algorithms.
We choose culture over convenience.
Curb Fail Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The CommonX Podcast has formally ended its relationship with Spotify as a hosting platform.
This decision reflects a values-based choice.
CommonX was created to amplify human voices — artists, musicians, thinkers, and everyday people — not to exist as a passive asset within systems that creators increasingly feel exploit, suppress, or disregard them.
After becoming informed of serious and growing concerns regarding Spotify’s treatment of artists, the erosion of creator trust, and ethical questions surrounding the platform’s leadership and broader financial interests, we concluded that our work should no longer be hosted there.
To be unequivocally clear:
CommonX Podcast will not be exploited to fund war, normalize violence, or indirectly support industries that profit from human suffering. Nor will our platform participate in systems that silence, penalize, or algorithmically suppress artists and independent voices.
While Spotify as a company may not directly engage in warfare or censorship, the values signaled by leadership decisions and platform behavior matter — especially in creative spaces built on expression, dissent, and culture.
We believe artists deserve:
Fair treatment and transparency
Protection from arbitrary removal or suppression
Platforms that respect creativity as human, not disposable
This is not an act of outrage. This is not performative virtue.
It is a refusal to be complicit.
CommonX will continue publishing on platforms that align with our belief that culture should never be collateral damage, and that art should never be reduced to an algorithmic resource.
We invite listeners to follow us directly through our website and supported platforms as we continue building an independent, human-first media space.
Culture doesn’t survive on convenience alone. It survives on conscience.
— Ian Primmer & Jared Mayzak
Co-Hosts, CommonX Podcast
A Gen-X Media Platform
When the Industry Starts Watching: A Quiet Win for CommonX
Most growth doesn’t announce itself. It shows up quietly — in data, in behavior, and in places most people aren’t looking yet. When the industry starts watching, the work has already been done.
Most growth doesn’t announce itself.
It doesn’t come with headlines, press releases, or industry fanfare. It shows up quietly — in data, in behavior, in places most people aren’t looking yet.
Over the past several weeks, Ian Primmer, co-host and co-founder of the CommonX Podcast, has seen a sharp rise on IMDb’s STARmeter, landing at approximately 889,000 globally out of more than 12 million profiles. More importantly, that ranking reflects a massive upward move, with millions of positions climbed in a short period of time and continued month-over-month momentum.
For an independent podcast and media operation with no network backing, no PR firm, and no legacy distribution, that matters.
Not as a trophy — but as a signal.
What this actually represents
IMDb’s STARmeter isn’t about talent or fame. It tracks interest — how often people are searching for a name, clicking into a profile, and engaging with recent work.
People don’t end up there by accident.
They get there because:
A show keeps surfacing in conversations
A guest appearance sends them digging deeper
Clips circulate outside the usual audience
A name starts appearing in multiple places at once
That’s how attention accumulates before it becomes obvious.
For CommonX, this movement reflects what listeners already know: the show has been steadily building — one conversation, one guest, one episode at a time.
Independent media, measured differently
Legacy media still runs on credentials and gatekeepers. Independent media runs on consistency and gravity. You show up, you publish, and you let the work compound.
Algorithms don’t care who you know.
They care who people look for.
This isn’t the result of a viral moment or manufactured controversy. It’s the byproduct of discipline, volume, and honest conversations that resonate beyond a core audience.
A Curb Fail perspective
At Curb Fail, we don’t celebrate spikes — we document signals.
A ranking doesn’t mean you’ve arrived. It means you’re being noticed. It means something you’re building is registering beyond your immediate circle. That’s usually the point where people either get distracted or double down.
We prefer the second option. CommonX will keep recording. We’ll keep publishing. We’ll keep letting the work speak. This isn’t a victory lap. It’s a checkpoint. And then it’s back to work. Congratulations Jared and Ian!
— Curb Fail Team