The drama surrounding Spotify removing Neil Young from the platform continues to cause divisiveness, with fellow musos now weighing in on the debate.
In case you missed it, music legend Neil Young sparked conversation around Spotify and its complacency around spreading misinformation about vaccines.
To combat this, Young announced he would be removing his music from the platform.
“I’m doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines — potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them. 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,” Young continued. “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”
Rogan’s podcast has come under fire for continually doubting the vaccine and openly encouraging young fans not to take the vaccine.
In 2020, the podcast made an exclusive deal with Spotify reported to be worth $100 million.
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“I realised I could not continue to support Spotify’s life-threatening misinformation to the music-loving public,” wrote Young.
“Before I told my friends at Warner Bros about my desire to leave the Spotify platform, I was reminded by my own legal forces that contractually I did not have the control of my music to do that. I announced I was leaving anyway, because I knew I was.”
“I was prepared to do all I could and more just to make sure that happened. I want to thank my truly great and supportive record company Warner Brothers – Reprise Records, for standing with me in my decision to pull all my music from Spotify. Thank you!”
Amid the drama, Spotify released a statement that read: “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-19 since the start of the pandemic. We regret Neil’s decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon.”
https://twitter.com/davidmdraiman/status/1486492870647238658
Now, Disturbed vocalist David Draiman has weighed in on the issue via Twitter, praising Spotify and saying that the right to free speech must be preserved.
“@eldsjal I applaud you and @Spotify for making the RIGHT call, preserving #FreeSpeech and not capitulating to the mob. I may not agree with everything @joerogan or his guests say, but they’re entitled to have the forum to say it.”
However, Neil Young fans seemed to vehemently disagree, with the hashtag #CancelSpotify trending on Twitter today.
“Can you imagine picking Joe Rogan over Neil Young for anything? Btw, you’re supposed to be a MUSIC service. Talk about selling out,” one fan wrote.
https://twitter.com/DJKarolinaMusic/status/1486933636314279941
Another added, “Breaking: Spotify received so many cancellations today that they stopped people from cancelling. Call your credit card company and stop the payments.”
Even Apple music got in on the trend, writing in a cheeky tweet: “It’s always a good idea to stream @NeilYoungNYA.”
It’s always a good idea to stream @NeilYoungNYA.https://t.co/g4232DaRkF pic.twitter.com/VdBP6AwceQ
— Apple Music (@AppleMusic) January 25, 2022
You can read Young’s new statement in full on his official archives website.
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Check out ‘Harvest Moon’ by Neil Young:
