Neil Young 's ultimatum to have his catalog removed from Spotify as a form of protest was heeded by the streaming platform, and the singer's material is no longer available to listeners.
Young's decision was motivated by the false and anti-vaccine content disseminated by the program The Joe Rogan Experience , one of the platform's exclusive podcasts, which is hosted by comedian Joe Rogan .
Owner of the most listened-to podcast in the United States and one of the world leaders in audience, with 11 million listeners per episode, according to data published by Newsweek , Rogan downplayed COVID-19 and the importance of vaccination after being diagnosed with the disease in September 2021.
The podcast host's stance was also criticized by medical organizations, which signed a letter requesting the podcast's removal from the platform after Rogan discouraged vaccination among young people and promoted ineffective medications against the disease on social media.
“I’m doing this because Spotify is spreading false information about vaccines – potentially causing the death of those who believe the misinformation they spread,” Young wrote in a letter addressed to Warner Bros. Records co-chairman Frank Gironda and COO Tom Corson.
When it came time to decide, Spotify gave preference to keeping the podcast, a decision certainly motivated by financial reasons, since Neil Young had a smaller number of listeners, with "only" six million monthly fans.
“We want all the music and audio content in the world to be available to Spotify users. With that comes a great responsibility to balance safety for listeners and freedom for creators. We have detailed content policies in place and have removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic,” Spotify said in announcing the decision.
According to Far Out , the decision will impact Neil Young's streaming profits by 60%, but the decision was applauded for the musician's integrity.
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