Joni Mitchell joins Neil Young in the Spotify departure. Could more music giants follow suit?
the Kennedy Center Honors – said on her website Friday that she stands with fellow Canadian-born artist Neil Young in wanting her music removed from streaming service Spotify.
Spotify on Friday took down Young’s music after the two-time Rock Roll Hall of Fame inductee asked that his music be removed if the service would continue to have podcast host Joe Rogan on the platform.
Young criticized Spotify for having “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast on the service, saying in the letter that has since been removed online, “Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them.”
Rogan, who tested positive for COVID-19 in September, has been critical of safety measures against virus on his podcast and had downplayed the need for mass vaccines for large events like comedy shows. In 2020, Spotify acquired the host’s podcast library in a deal reportedly worth more than $100 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Bye-bye Spotify?:How to delete your Spotify account, and where to go next to stream music
Spotify vs. Neil Young:Spotify agrees to remove his music following Joe Rogan vaccine misinformation complaints
The musicians’ action comes after nearly 300 doctors, physicians and science educators earlier this month signed an open letter calling on Spotify to stop spreading Rogan’s commentary and “moderate misinformation on its platform.”
In their letter, they said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Rogan “has repeatedly spread misleading and false claims on his podcast, provoking distrust in science and medicine.”
Mitchell, also a Rock Hall inductee, and like Young, a polio survivor and holder of dual citizenship in Canada and the U.S., posted a link to the letter on her website along with her “I Stand With Neil Young!” note.
Musicians assemble in ‘Barn,’ tackle mountain of problems on ‘positive’ albumLate Supreme Court justice’s library sells for nearly $2.4 million at auction
On his Neil Young Archives website, Young encouraged other musicians to join him and countered criticism that his demands amounted to censorship.
“I support free speech. I have never been in favor of censorship,” he wrote. “Private companies have the right to choose what they profit from, just as I can choose not to have my music support a platform that disseminates harmful information. I am happy and proud to stand in solidarity with the front line health care workers who risk their lives every day to help others.”
This has led to a growing discussion on Twitter about whether more artists will follow Young.
Musician and Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell tweeted he planned to. “Where he goeth, I will follow,” Farrell tweeted.
Nils Lofgren, who played on Young’s latest release “Barn” as a member of Crazy Horse and is also a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, tweeted thanks to Young for helping “end the misinformation campaign that is stressing our health care workers.”
“If all artists were as punk rock as Neil Young maybe we wouldn’t be getting absolutely screwed by corporate streaming companies,” tweeted country singer-songwriter Margo Price.
Apparently not on the #DeleteSpotify team: Barry Manilow. Some Twitter traffic including a tweet by actress Debra Messing, suggested the singer wanted to leave Spotify, too.
Not so, he says. “I don’t know where (the rumor) started, but it didn’t start with me or anyone who represents me,” Manilow tweeted Friday.
Contributing: Terry Collins
Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @mikesnider.