How musicians are boycotting Spotify because of Joe Rogan and Covid misinformation

Singer and songwriter Joni Mitchell is showing support for fellow musician Neil Young by removing all her music from Spotify, after Young left the streaming platform in protest against podcaster Joe Rogan.

Young, 76, a polio survivor, sent an ultimatum to the Swedish streaming service this week, demanding that it remove his music from the platform unless it dropped The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

"I realised I could not continue to support Spotify's life-threatening misinformation to the music-loving public," Young said in an open letter.

His challenge followed a demand from hundreds of medical professionals that the streaming service prevent Rogan from promoting "several falsehoods about Covid-19 vaccines," which they said is creating "a sociological issue of devastating proportions."

Rogan, 54, whose show is the platform's most popular, is widely accused of peddling conspiracy theories. He has discouraged vaccination in young people and promoted the off-label use of the anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin to treat the virus.

Last month, Rogan interviewed Dr Robert Malone, an infectious disease specialist who has been banned from Twitter for spreading Covid-19 misinformation.

"We regret Neil's decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon," Spotify said. It also said that it had policies in place to remove misleading content from its platform and has removed more than 20,000 podcast episodes related to Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic.

On Thursday, Rogan, who has a $100 million multi-year exclusive deal with Spotify, was kept on while Young's hits – including Heart of Gold, Harvest Moon and Rockin' in the Free World – began vanishing from the platform.

In solidarity

Mitchell, 78, then joined the fray on Friday, saying she's also removing her music from Spotify "in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.”

“Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives,” Mitchell said in a message posted on her website.

While Young had 2.4 million followers and more than six million monthly listeners on Spotify, Mitchell, who had much of her success in the 1970s, had 3.7 million monthly listeners to her music. Her songs Big Yellow Taxi and A Case of You have both been streamed more than 100 million times on the service.

The Joe Rogan Experience was Spotify's most popular podcast globally in 2021. It became exclusive to Spotify in 2020 when Rogan signed a multi-year licensing deal reportedly worth about $100 million.

Last year, Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek told Axios he didn't think Spotify – which recently began heavily investing in podcasts – had editorial responsibility for Rogan. He compared the podcaster to "really well-paid rappers," saying "we don't dictate what they're putting in their songs, either."

#DeleteSpotify trends

On Thursday, following the removal of Young's music from Spotify, rival Apple Music posted a tweet, calling itself "the home of Neil Young".

Some Apple Music users said Young's albums and playlists were heavily promoted on the platform, including a banner titled "We Love Neil."

The hashtag #DeleteSpotify also trended on Twitter as users showed their support for Young.

Spotify, which reported having 172 million paying subscribers in the third quarter of 2021, is one of the leading music platforms, while Apple has not disclosed subscriber numbers.

In his letter, Young had called on other artists to support him following his action. In a message on his website Friday, he said that “when I left Spotify, I felt better.”

“Private companies have the right to choose what they profit from, just as I can choose not to have my music support a platform that disseminates harmful information,” he wrote. “I am happy and proud to stand in solidarity with the front line health care workers who risk their lives every day to help others.”

– Additional reporting by AP and AFP