After raising objections to Spotify platforming the Joe Rogan podcast, Neil Young is going to have his music removed from the streaming service.
Spotify is set to remove Young’s music from the platform. What caused the uproar from the singer-songwriter came from Rogan’s podcast. During an episode of the podcast, which Spotify hosts, Rogan made statements about the COVID-19 vaccine.
Variety is reporting that they reached out to Spotify. The music streaming giant did respond. “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 since the start of the pandemic. We regret Neil’s decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon.”
For those that want to listen to Neil Young and his music, you can go to his website. There are fees associated with that site, Neil Young Archives. As of right now, there has not been further comment from Young and his people. However, his original statement was sent in a letter to Spotify.
“Please immediately inform Spotify that I am actively canceling all my music availability on Spotify as soon as possible,” the singer wrote. “I am doing this because Spotify is spreading false information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them.” Later, he said, “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”
Throughout his career, Neil Young has been an outspoken individual. He has advocated for many causes and drawn attention with his statements in the past. Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time he has removed his catalog from Spotify.
Neil Young and Spotify Dispute 2015
It was in 2015 when Neil Young had an issue with the audio platform. However, it wasn’t a divisive issue like vaccines that was the cause. Young asked that his music be taken down due to the sound quality. For the singer, the songs just sounded bad. So, he asked that they take them down. That led to the artist starting his own music player, Pono. However, that didn’t work out and now we have the archives site.
“I don’t need my music to be devalued by the worst quality in the history of broadcasting or any other form of distribution,” the artist said in 2015. “I don’t feel right allowing this to be sold to my fans. It’s bad for my music.”
When it comes to being headstrong and full of conviction, no one is going to outdo Neil Young. His whole life he has remained steadfast in his beliefs and made sure to stand his ground. While it looks like his music will soon be taken off of Spotify, hopefully, there will be some sort of resolution in the future.
