Neil Young is not at all happy with Spotify. In fact, the artist, one of the most recognized of his generation, wants all his music to be deleted from the platform considering that Spotify makes room for vaccine deniers.
Neil Young considers that the streaming platform, by allowing podcaster Joe Rogan to publish content on the service, is supporting the denier message about the vaccine without showing active protection against misinformation. According to The Guardian, Neil Young has been especially blunt with Spotify: “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both” the artist has sentenced.
The whole thing comes because Joe Rogan, the comedian and former athlete, has a podcast on Spotify that is one of the most listened to on the platform. In fact, within the catalog of Spotify exclusives, is one of the most important. A very listening podcast about which various voices have long considered that erroneous information about the Covid vaccine is published.
The strongest criticism from Neil Young came just after Rogan interviewed Robert Malone, a virologist who was involved in the development of mRNA vaccines, in an episode. However, several scientists pointed out that in the episode both promoted various conspiracy theories on the subject. Including the false claim that hospitals are financially incentivized to falsely diagnose deaths as caused by Covid-19.
Neil Young to Spotify: “either Rogan or me”
Photo by Mufid Majnun on Unsplash Neil Young did not like the matter at all. In fact, after several scientists asked Spotify to remove Rogan's content, the artist has given the platform an ultimatum. It has been in a letter published on his website that he has been quite explicit in his demands, even accusing Spotify of being responsible for the spread of false information:
“I am doing this because Spotify is spreading false information about vaccines, which could cause death to those who believe the misinformation being spread by them. Please act immediately today and keep me updated on the timeline.” (…) “With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE, hosted exclusively on Spotify, is the world's largest podcast and has enormous influence. Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, although the company does not currently have a misinformation policy.” or Young. Not both.”
Part of Neil Young's letter to Spotify. For now, yes, nothing has changed. Both Joe Rogan's content and Neil Young's music are available on the platform.
