Neil Young isn’t known for keeping his opinions to himself. Neil recently gave Spotify and ultimatum: it’s either him or Joe Rogan. As we know, Rogan would rather eat horse-dewormer than promote safe science. So Neil posted a letter to his team and label demanding they pull his music from Spotify unless they drop Rogan’s podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE). Neil specified Rogan’s spreading of misinformation on vaccines as the cause.
Neil Young posted a since-deleted letter to his management team and record label demanding that they remove his music from Spotify. “I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them,” he wrote. “Please act on this immediately today and keep me informed of the time schedule.”
“I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform,” he continued. “They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young. Not both.” Young is referencing the steady stream of misinformation about vaccines that Joe Rogan has peddled on The Joe Rogan Experience. Last month, 270 doctors, physicians, and science educators signed an open letter asking Spotify to stop spreading Rogan’s baseless claims.
“With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE, which is hosted exclusively on Spotify, is the world’s largest podcast and has tremendous influence,” the letter reads. “Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy.”
It was a valid stance to take. I wouldn’t want to share a platform with someone spreading dangerous information either. But Spotify didn’t see it that way. They felt it was more important to keep Joe and his foolhardy ignorance than Neil’s catalogue, so they’re removing it.
Spotify is in the process of removing Neil Young’s catalog of music from its service after the artist published — then took down — an open letter with an ultimatum: Deal with the vaccine misinformation coming from Joe Rogan’s podcast, or lose Young’s music.
Two days after the letter was published, Spotify is now in the process of removing Young’s music from the streaming service, a Spotify spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter.
“We want all the world’s music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators. We have detailed content policies in place and we’ve removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID since the start of the pandemic. We regret Neil’s decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon,” the spokesperson told THR.
In a follow-up letter published on Wednesday, Young said that Spotify represented 60 percent of his streaming revenue globally, which amounted to “a huge loss for [his] record company to absorb,” but that he moved forward with removing his catalog because he “could not continue to support Spotify’s life threatening misinformation to the music loving public.”
“I truly want to thank the many, many people who have reached out to me thanking me for taking this position — people who are health professionals on the front lines, people who have lost loved ones to COVID or who are worried for their own children and families. I have never felt so much love coming from so many,” Young wrote in Wednesday’s letter. “I sincerely hope that other artists and record companies will move off the Spotify platform and stop supporting Spotify’s deadly misinformation about COVID.”
This is Spotify flexing their muscle, thinking they’re calling Neil’s bluff. Neil boycotted them a few years ago over sound quality. Ultimately, he caved because he claimed his fans just wanted to hear his music. So Spotify is counting on him doing it again. This way they don’t have to lose JRE and can play the victors once again if Neil comes back. I understand why this is happening but I’m angry about it. I really don’t want to live in a time when Joe Rogan and his stupid experience has more pull than Neil Young.
Photo credit: Avalon Red, Getty and via Instagram
I saw tweets right and left this morning from people saying they were all deleting their Spotify accounts. And of course now royalists are using this as a new stick to beat H&M with, saying that if they don’t ditch Spotify now that they’re hypocrites…when really they’re just gleeful at the idea of H&M losing millions.
And they are the same people who will whine about “freedom of speech” if somebody complains about them spreading nastiness about H&M. All outlets publish questionable content. Some do put a disclaimer or warning on things.
I don’t understand exactly how the artist’s relationships($) work with a streaming service. Could Young make this decision himself considering he sold a 50% stake of his music catalog? I really don’t know how it all works.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/06/business/neil-young-rights-deal-scli-intl-gbr/index.html
The first image that comes up is Dylan. He sold his catalog.
Didn’t spotify pay Joe Rogan an insane amount for the exclusive rights to his podcast? No way were they going to drop him, even with his misinformation and lies etc.
Yeah, there’s no way they were going to pull Joe Rogan for Neil Young. I absolutely admire his stance, but I think all he has achieved is to give Rogan more publicity and something else to rile up his fan base about – see, proof that the left are trying to silence him
If Spotify are going to do anything about Rogan, it’s going to take an artist with much more clout that Neil Young.
I was going to say pretty much the same thing. I applaud him for what he tried to do, but at the end of the day it’s not as if he’s Beyoncé or BTS…they could definitely force changes. Neil Young sadly not so much.
Sadly I don’t think Beyonce or BTS will follow. I don’t think Beyonce will ever take a stand on much and BTS is part of a machine that gives them very little control over what happens on the business end, and they are officially Korean diplomats so I doubt they’d risk speaking out.
exactly. no way, unfortunately, that NY gets more plays than JR, which is sad but that’s where we are today!
well, I just deleted my Spotify account – I can find music and podcasts elsewhere.
It’s about money, it always is…
Money is more important than sickness & death apparently.
The funny thing about money and streaming is that it isn’t a lot of money. A song can play half a Billion times, and the artist will get like $13k. Radio and purchased music is much more lucrative, and his fans probably use those methods more than streaming. I still think he’s giving up something for this stance, and it’s gutsy and admirable.
I don’t agree with this take, at all. Neil Young DGAF. He wasn’t “bluffing”. He was yanking his music in protest. He’s old and rich and can afford to stand up for what he believes. I bet he’d do it even if he was penniless. It’s the Canadian way! Go Neil!!!
I agree. I think Neil Young was just born with that “IDGAF” attitude that most people don’t develop until they’re, well, the age he actually is now. And thankfully, unlike so many other people his age, he doesn’t use it as a pass to get away with saying racist, bigoted, or otherwise ignorant shit.
I changed the wording on that. I didn’t mean to imply Neil was bluffing, I don’t think he is. I meant that Spotify is acting like they think he is.
Me too. I know not all podcasters can afford to take a stand, but Neil can, so good for him for doing what he believes in and f*ck Spotify.
It could be dead wrong because I found the information on Twitter, but I read that Spotify removed the episodes that spread the misinformation.
ETA: Apparently they removed 42 of Rohan’s episodes as stated by right wingers who are whining about censorship
What I found is that they removed those 42 episodes last year when they purchased rogan’s show 🤮
Well that settles it. I’m adding canceling Spotify to today’s to-do list.
I’ve been on Pandora forever so I’ve never used Spotify. But the temptation was there. Now it’s gone. Honestly I didn’t even know Joe Rogan was on Spotify. In general I don’t boycott media companies who have good and bad. Lord knows I watch plenty of Fox produced content from other non political branches of the company. But the swiftness with which they axed Neil Young to protect the darling of the moron brigade is troubling. Like there didn’t seem to be any kind of negotiation.
….”the darling of the moron brigade” is worth a steal. Nailed it!
What’s the point of removing Joe’s podcasts after they have already been listened to and talked about by millions? I hope more artists join Neil Young.
I just switched to Spotify from Apple Music about two weeks ago bc my kids wanted my kpop listening to count for streaming numbers or something, I’m not really even sure. I didn’t like it right off the bat, imo Apple always has a more intuitive interface for everything. I’m making the switch back today. I was a huuuge Neil Young fan in the early 90’s. Listened to Decade all the time, saw him in concert a couple times. He is an amazing musician and activist. Joe Rogan and his guests are just such whiny bitch losers by comparison.
The 90s were my Neil Young decade too. I feel like he eternally speaks to the young adult stage of life. I wore out Harvest Moon.
I wore it out too…the longing and emotion in his voice are profound.
I love his attitude. I saw him in London a few years back at the British Summer Time Hyde Park thing they do each year. At the time it was sponsored by Barclaycard and he made them pull all the sponsorship for that day because of Barclays and their relationship with fossil fuels. They tried to push back but he stood his ground and said it was Barclays or him. He was fantastic to watch live (way better than Bob Dylan who he was headlining with who I was mostly there for but was a massive disappointment live).
“At the time it was sponsored by Barclaycard and he made them pull all the sponsorship for that day because of Barclays and their relationship with fossil fuels>”
Seriously? Dude is awesome. So rare that a rich white male celeb swings his d*ck around for a good cause. Glad I don’t use Spotify.
Spotify sucks. You made the WRONG choice, dudes. So, so, so, so wrong. Assholes.
Awful news to wake up to. They shouldn’t have done that. A gift to Joe As*hole’s ego. He will rant about it for days. Sad.
That’s what is truly disheartening about the choice that Spotify made. Instead of standing up for what would be the ethical choice, they chose the monetary value. I do hope that other artists stand up in solidarity with Young!!! He is a national treasure and should be held in such regard!
When will these streaming services, as well as other SM companies, STOP allowing lies and misinformation to continue to be used? They are harming the public in every sector.
Well at this point, perhaps JR gets deplatformed by COVID infection induced vascular damage combined with long term anabolic steroid abuse weakening his left ventricle.
Corporations will never do the right thing.
More artists need to follow suit.
Exactly. If artists like Taylor Swift or BTS etc who have large followings and who generate a lot of money for Spotify threaten to leave, then Spotify will care. I love Neil Young but he probably doesn’t generate that many streams in comparison to Joe Rogan.
I’m hoping ARMY gets on board and leaves Spotify. But I think Samsung/Android is much more popular in Asia so Apple Music might not be a good option.
Totally. Let’s see if some of the big pop star names step up. Taylor Swift is all about speaking out for what is right, correct?
I happily got rid of my Spotify account.
Cancelled my Spotify account as soon as I heard the news and happily left a remark telling them why. Bye felicia
I already loved and respected Neil Young but WOW. What a stand-up guy.
Want to cancel my Spotify but have no idea what the best alternative is – what does everyone recommend?
i use youtube music. if you use spotify for podcasts, then youtube music is not for you. but for music availability and other functionality, they’re very similar. there are lots of articles out there that compares all the different music streaming companies, and there’s always a drawback to one or the other. what i like about youtube music is 1) you get to watch youtube without ads, and in this day and age my attention span is really short. i watch a ton of youtube and 2) if someone’s uploaded something obscure to youtube, you can find it and listen to it through the music app.
the biggest drawback is if you only use the free version, you can’t listen to it and use another app at the same time. if your phone or tablet screen goes dark, the music stops. which is terrible. but if you use the desktop version or use the subscription service, that’s not an issue.
But using youtube supports a company that allows hate accounts to flourish. Which is worse? Anti-vax crazies or hate-filled loonies spreading lies about people?
I pay the premium for YouTube Music, (in spite of a few irritating bullet points) and Pandora. My son and I also use Spotify because he likes to share my playlist but prefers to use Spotify lol. I don’t believe I want to see their logo in my lineups if they’ve chosen to make a stance like this. Ridiculous.
I listen to podcasts via my iPad app. I’d been considering Spotify for music but not now. JR is gross and I hate that I have relatives who regularly listen to him 🤢🤮
I cancelled my paid prescription last year when Rogan initially pushed antivaxx conspiracies. But now I can ditch them altogether because one of my favorite podcasts isn’t spotify exclusive anymore (LPOTL).
Neil has always called out bullshit. Also his whole catalog is on YouTube anyways.
I canceled my Spotify account last week before this came out. I was frustrated with the fact that their site was unresponsive half the time and would just sit there and spin and not play the music that I selected.
Neil had polio as a kid, right before the vaccine was discovered. So this is personal for him.
I just canceled my Spotify. Plenty of other streaming options. Be the change you want to see.
I don’t use Spotify ( Apple Music is better) and I probably wouldn’t listen much to Neil young anyway but kudos to him for bringing this to peoples attention. Going to delete the app that for whatever reason seems to have come with my phone.
Considering Neil Young had polio as a kid, you can see why he’s pro-vax. Bravo.
I’ve just deleted my Spotify account t too I’d told them why.
It actually made me sad as I’ve got saved playlists on there from my wedding day 7 years ago. But I love Neil Young and want to support his stance.
i just think Spotify should aggressively enforce their own policies against disinformation on Rogan’s show. If I were them, I would have done the same- deleted Young’s music because he asked them to. Spotify remains responsible for Rogan so they will have to better monitor him and demand changes or cancel episodes when he crosses the line.
I learned today when discussing this topic that someone I considered intelligent and informed (and liberal) listens to and defends Joe Rogan… “he’s not anti-vax!” “He gave his reasons for not getting the vaccine!” etc. It was the most depressing thing I’d heard today, and, sad to say, has changed my opinion of this person.
Young is an abusive narcissistic jerk, I’m not giving him a cookie for this. Just don’t listen to Rogan we don’t have to censor others
An aside to the debate, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell has polio, another public health crisis, as children. This may have factor in his response to Spotify, a private company.
Neil Young and Joni Mitchell had polio in their infancy, a plausable reason for their response to Spotify.
This is not good at all