Spotify Will Remove Neil Young's Music After Singer Demanded the Move Over Joe Rogan's COVID Vaccine Claims
Spotify will remove the music of Canadian American singer Neil Young after the singer demanded to remove it from the platform over Joe Rogan's COVID vaccine claims.
The move was confirmed by a representative of the music streamer to Variety on Wednesday, saying their company is only "balancing" the safety of their listeners and the freedom of the content creators.
"We want all the world's music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. With that comes great responsibility in balancing the safety of listeners and freedom of creators," the representative for Spotify said in a statement.
The representative for the music streamer then expressed how they felt about Young's decision to remove his songs from the platform.
"We regret Neil's decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back," the representative noted.
The spokesperson for Spotify also assured on their commitment against COVID-19, as they noted that they have removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID since the onset of the pandemic.
However, the streamer's spokesperson did not further the details on the matter, such as specifying if the removed podcast episodes were related to vaccine misinformation.
Young's songs will reportedly be out of the streamer by late Wednesday.
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Neil Young's Demand to Remove His Music From Spotify
Spotify's move of removing Young's music came a day after the singer demanded on the streamer to remove his songs over Joe Rogan's COVID vaccine claims on the platform.
According to The Guardian, Joe Rogan's podcast entitled "the Joe Rogan Experience" is the platform's most popular podcast.
Young addressed his demands through writing a statement on Tuesday, where he acknowledged that the Joe Rogan Experience has over 11 million listeners and attributed the COVID vaccine misinformation to the podcast.
"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... Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy," Young said in the open letter.
The singer then pointed out that Spotify should choose between him and the podcast host.
"They can have Rogan or Young. Not both," Young underscored.
The open letter Young wrote was addressed to his manager Frank Gironda, and Tom Corson, the co-chairman and chief operating officer of Warner Records, which releases his songs.
Gironda on Tuesday verified the open letter Young previously published on his website, saying that the singer decided on "something very important" to him and that he is "very upset."
Joe Rogan's Spotify Podcast
In 2020, Joe Rogan signed a $100 million deal with Spotify for the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast, giving the streamer an exclusive right to the show.
However, Rogan's podcast in the streamer gathered criticism as he said one time in an episode that "healthy" young people should not be vaccinated against COVID-19. The radio host then walked back on his statements, claiming that he supports the coronavirus remedy.
Young was not the only one to speak out against Rogan's Spotify podcast. Earlier in January, at least 270 doctors also wrote a letter to the streamer, demanding the company to monitor the "Joe Rogan Experience."
Medical experts noted that Joe Rogan "repeatedly spread misleading and false claims on his podcast" and provoking people's distrust in science and medicine.
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This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written By: Joshua Summers
WATCH: Neil Young Threatens To Pull Music From Spotify Over Joe Rogan's Vaccine Comments - From TODAY
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