Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell announced that she remove all her music from Spotify. On her website, she published a short saying that “irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives.” She added that she stands with “Neil Young and the global medical and scientific community on this issue.” Although Mitchell did not mention COVID-19 or Joe Rogan in particular, she was linked to a open letter to Spotify from a group of scientists and doctors criticized the presenter for “continuously going viral[ing] false and false claims on his podcast, discrediting science and medicine “during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
A few days ago, Young threatened to exit the platform and tell his team it was because “Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines.” He also said that Spotify might have “[Joe] Rogan or Young. Not both. “Mitchell and Young are friends and both contracted polio as children before the vaccine. It’s not surprising that Spotify started erase Young’s catalog from the platform shortly after news of his stance surfaced, also announced that it was taking steps to remove misinformation from its service.
The company says it has obtained more than 20,000 episodes of COVID-related podcasts since the beginning of the pandemic. Rogan’s performances, however, are still numerous. And that includes the controversial episode with Dr Robert Malone, who claimed that “massive psychosis” led people to believe that vaccines were effective against COVID- 19. Spotify has signed an exclusive agreement to host Joe Rogan’s Experience in 2020 and is said to have paid over $100 million for it. The show is a key element of Spotify’s quest to continue to dominate podcast spaceso it’s no surprise that Young music but to find a new home.
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