Three other prominent musicians have followed Neil Young’s lead and asked to have their music removed from streaming service Spotify. They are Young’s ex-bandmates, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and David Crosby. They do so to protest Joe Rogan, a popular Spotify podcast host who they claim has spread coronavirus misinformation.
The musicians sent a written statement to NPR Wednesday afternoon stating that David Crosby and Graham Nash had requested that their labels delete their collective Spotify recordings. They have decided to take their records off Spotify in solidarity with Neil Young and in support for stopping harmful misinformation regarding COVID. His solo recordings have already been taken down by Nash.
The statement continued, “We support Neil and agree with him that Spotify’s Joe Rogan podcast is leaking dangerous disinformation. We value other points of view but spreading disinformation during a global pandemic can have devastating consequences. We don’t want our music, or the music that we created together, to be on the same platform unless we take real action to balance commerce and humanity.
Other creators and artists are also asking to have their content removed from Spotify. Joni Mitchell, a singer-songwriter, was the first to follow Young. She stated that “irresponsible persons are spreading lies which are costing people’s lives.” I stand with Neil Young, the international scientific and medical community on this matter.
Nils Lofgren (a guitarist who was a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band as well as the Crazy Horse band with Neil Young) announced on Saturday that he had also asked for the removal of his music from Spotify , accusing of “promoting lies, misinformation that are harming and killing people”.
India.Arie, a vocalist, wrote on Instagram that “Neil Young opened an entrance that I must walk through… Joe Rogan is problematic to me for reasons other than his COVID interviews. It’s also about the language he uses to talk about race.
Rogan made remarks last week about race in an interview with Jordan Peterson. Peterson is a climate change scientist and psychologist. Rogan stated that it was strange to categorize people as Black based upon skin color.
However, India.Arie’s songs remained on Spotify as of Wednesday afternoon.
Mary Trump, a psychologist and author, announced Tuesday she will also be pulling her podcast from Spotify. She wrote: “I know it’s not an important thing but hope it will become part of a growing number of people.” In a separate tweet she stated that Joe Rogan’s show should be removed from Spotify. Not only because he spreads COVID misinformation, but also because he is racist. This is yet another reason to #DeleteSpotify.
Rogan and other podcast hosts have spoken out about their exclusive Spotify deals. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle voiced concern to Spotify in a statement that they issued over the weekend. They expressed their concerns about the “all too real” consequences of COVID-19 misinformation being spread on Spotify’s platform.
Brene Brown (author and researcher) is another prominent host. She said last week that she was suspending any new content from the platform.
Brown posted a long statement Tuesday saying she had stopped delivering new episodes to better understand the situation. She wrote that she wanted to speak to Spotify’s leadership about their position, policies, and how they apply those policies. “I met with them twice last Wednesday and again this week. They’ve listened and I’ve listened. My assessment is that everyone is open to learning, including me.
Brown stated that she had faced an onslaught online reaction since her initial announcement. “Driven by unfounded accusations about censorship,” Brown said.
She said, “Comments such as “I’m canceling your services for cancelling people” and “I hate censors so shut up!” and “I’m burning books because you don’t agree to me” would be funny and ironic if they didn’t show a complete lack in critical thinking.
