Various podcasters and podcast networks (including Joe Rogan, New York Times, etc.) have asked Luminary to remove their shows from the app. And I don't understand why any company would comply with such a request.

The Niemanlab article refers to licensing issues, but how can a publicly available podcast have licensing issues? The whole point of a podcast is to be platform agnostic. Anyone can build a directory and/or app that features any podcast under the sun. So why is Luminary so special?

I understand that podcasters object to the company's ad-free/premium business-model, but why would any podcaster believe that they have the right to ban an app from accessing their publicly available content? Moreoever, why would Luminary honour these requests?