Spotify Takes Down Neil Young’s Songs in Response to Ultimatum Over Joe Rogan’s Podcast
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Spotify has reportedly taken down singer Neil Young’s songs in response to his ultimatum that either his music or Joe Rogan’s podcast episodes can be on the platform, but “not both.”
The Wall Street Journal first reported the news on Wednesday.
“We want all the world’s music and audio content to be available to Spotify users,” a Spotify spokesperson told the publication. “With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators.”
“We regret Neil’s decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon,” added the spokesperson.
In a letter to his management team that has since been deleted, asking that his music be taken off Spotify in response to alleged Covid misinformation on The Joe Rogan Experience, Young wrote, according to Rolling Stone, “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.”
“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,” stated the letter. “Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy.”
The Wall Street Journal reported:
Spotify struck a deal with Mr. Rogan in 2020 worth more than $100 million, according to people familiar with the matter, bringing his popular and lucrative show exclusively to its service.
While the letter has since been removed from Mr. Young’s website, he has been in discussions with his label, Warner Music WMG -0.20%Group Corp.’s Warner Records, and Spotify since then, and continued to hold his ground, according to the people. The formal request to remove the music was made Wednesday and could take several hours to take effect across Spotify’s service across the world.
Before the removal, Mr. Young had 2.4 million followers and over six million monthly listeners on Spotify.
