Neil Young: Backlash grows against Spotify over decision to support Joe Rogan during musician’s music removal

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Furious fans Neil Young are supporting the singer and pledging to cancel their Spotify subscriptions after the streaming service refused to back out of the Joe Rogan podcast.

The 76-year-old’s music has been removed from Spotify after he protested the spread of misinformation about the coronavirus at The Joe Rogan Experience, one of the platform’s most popular shows.

This week, Young posted a since-removed open letter addressed to his manager and record company, which said, “With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, [The Joe Rogan Experience]hosted exclusively on Spotify, is the world’s largest podcast and has a massive impact.

“Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, although the company does not currently have a disinformation policy in place.”

He added, “I want you to tell Spotify right away today that I want all of my music off their platform… They can get Rogan or Young. Not both.”

Young said Rogan’s podcast was spreading “misinformation” about Covid-19 vaccines that “is likely to cause death to those who believe misinformation is being spread by them.”

A Spotify spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday, January 26, that Young’s music has been removed from its platform. His music has since returned to SiriusXM in the United States.

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Standing by Joe Rogan on Neil Young has to be the greatest of L [loss]One fan wrote in a widely shared tweet.

“Neil Young is a hero. That’s it. Activist and author Amy Siskind wrote, “Here is the tweet.

Musician Margot Price wrote on Twitter, “If all artists were as rockstars as Neil Young, we probably wouldn’t be completely affected by the streaming companies.”

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Participation

British singer Kate Nash commented, “I really like Neil Young for pulling his music off Spotify.”

Writer and comedian Tom Sharpling wrote: “I love clowns who laugh as if Neil Young thought Spotify was going to bring down Joe Rogen. The guy took a stand, put his money where his mouth is. I was forced as a **** to make a real color reveal decision. That’s just one One of the many reasons why Neil works all the time.”

Comedian Christopher Titus said he deleted his Spotify account, commenting: “[Spotify] They pulled all the comics a month ago because they didn’t want to pay them and I’m not willing to support crazy misinformation. Listen to Neil Young.”

The Independent has reached out to Spotify for comment.

“We want all of the world’s music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. With that comes a huge responsibility in balancing the safety of listeners and the freedom of creators,” the streaming service said in its statement yesterday.

“We have detailed content policies in place and have removed over 20,000 Covid-related podcasts since the start of the pandemic. We regret Neil’s decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him again soon.”

Earlier this month, 270 members of the scientific and medical community wrote an open letter to Spotify, saying that Rogan’s allowing claims to remain unchecked could “damage public confidence in scientific research and sow doubt as to the credibility of data-based guidance provided by clinicians.” “.

“This is not just a scientific or medical concern; it is a social issue of devastating proportions and Spotify is responsible for allowing this activity to thrive on its platform,” the letter states.

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