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These are all the podcast networks and creators who pulled their shows from Luminary

These are all the podcast networks and creators who pulled their shows from Luminary

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Not everyone’s happy with the startup

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

In just the three days since it launched, the podcast startup Luminary has lost access to shows from multiple major networks, which have pulled their content over its business practices, and lost the faith of the industry it wanted to please. Luminary users and paying subscribers are now left without access to major podcasts, including The Daily, The Joe Rogan Experience, and Blackout.

Shows from Gimlet Media, Anchor, and Parcast — all Spotify entities — weren’t on the platform from the start, which means listeners can’t access major programs like Reply All and Homecoming. Also since launch, The New York Times has withheld its prized show The Daily, even though it lists 12 other shows on Luminary. In a comment to The Verge at the time, NYT said it would be “judicious” about where it distributes its hit.

Endeavor Audio, a network that includes actor Rami Malek’s new fiction show Blackout, also didn’t have its shows available at launch. Joe Rogan’s team pulled his show a day after launch, as did Barstool Sports with its catalog.

iHeartRadio, WaitWhat, and PodcastOne have pulled their networks’ podcasts, too, which include shows like The Thrive Global Podcast with Arianna Huffington and The Steve Austin Show. Smaller creators have said they’ll issue takedown requests to Luminary, including Owen Williams, David Chen, Amelia Antrim, Ben Thompson (in a now-deleted tweet), and Federico Viticci.

You can get a sense of the quantity of shows that are being taken down here, although that website doesn’t account for everything and seems to only list the shows that Luminary has specifically listed as unavailable.

Various creators have pulled their shows

The backlash against Luminary stems from a few different places. Major networks have been concerned about Luminary’s business model from the start, which relies on freely available shows to funnel people into the app and hopefully convince them to start paying for access to Luminary exclusives.

Smaller creators have also taken issue with how Luminary distributes their shows — something Luminary is now trying to correct. The company was revealed yesterday to be passing listeners’ episode requests through proxy servers. This prevented podcasters from receiving accurate data about their shows’ listeners, including where they are based, which is important for advertising. The company has since implemented a redirect from that server, which essentially gives creators that data back, but it took an industry uproar to make that happen.

Creators also noted that Luminary strips their show notes that include pertinent links, sometimes to sponsored content. Today, the company said it doesn’t allow these external links because of “important security concerns,” and that it’s “exploring solutions” that’ll balance its worries with creators’ desire to have links. Other podcast players allow these links, or at least give listeners the option to click through to find them. Apple Podcasts sends people out to the episode’s webpage where all the links are located, while other apps, like Pocket Casts, let creators link directly from the app.

The show takedowns might have stabilized for now, although it’s possible that more will come down as the company processes requests and attempts to move past this miserable launch week.