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Neil Young Is Threatening to Pull His Music From Spotify: Here’s Why

Earlier this year, Neil Young stepped down from Farm Aid due to his concerns about COVID. Now, reportedly wants to remove his music from Spotify. Recently, the classic rocker posted an open letter to his management and record label on his website. In the letter, Young reportedly stated that he wanted to move away from the platform because he feels they’re adding to vaccine misinformation.

Neil Young vs Misinformation

Unfortunately, Young has since removed the letter from his website. However, Rolling Stone reported on its contents. Additionally, the page that housed the letter is still there, it’s just blank. RS reported that Neil Young wrote, “I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform.” Young went on to state that he was doing this because Spotify allows Joe Rogan to spread misinformation through his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both,” the rocker stated.

In the letter, Neil Young said he’s worried about the effects that Joe Rogan’s podcast could have on its listeners. “I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them,” he wrote. Then, he urged his management to act on his demands immediately and keep him posted on when he’d see his music removed from the platform.

Healthcare Workers vs Joe Rogan

Neil Young isn’t the first to react to misinformation spread by The Joe Rogan Experience. Recently, Rogan had epidemiologist Robert Malone on the show. During the interview, Malone stated that “mass formation psychosis” caused people to believe that the COVID vaccine works. Additionally, he touted the old conspiracy theory that hospitals somehow make more money by falsely linking COVID to deaths. Before appearing on JRE, Twitter banned Malone for spreading misinformation about the pandemic as well as vaccines.

In response to Malone’s claims, nearly 300 doctors, physicians, and science educators signed an open letter to Spotify. They asked the platform to do stop allowing Rogan to spread misinformation through his podcast.

“With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE, which is hosted exclusively on Spotify, is the world’s biggest podcast and has tremendous influence,” stated the letter. “Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy.”

Currently, Spotify is one of the only major tech companies without a misinformation policy in place.

At this time, Neil Young’s discography is still available to stream on Spotify. It could be that his management and label talked him out of the decision. Then again, it could just be taking time to remove his music from the platform.