Spotify breaks silence on Joe Rogan controversy as it pulls Neil Young's music

Joe Rogan talking on a microphone, Spotify on a phone and Neil Young at a performance

(Prototype credit: Carmen Mandato/Getty, Kaspars Grinvalds / Shutterstock, Gary Miller / Getty)

Spotify's losing its "Heart of Gold," as news broke that it's in the process of removing the works of musician Neil Young from its servers.. It's all happening because of Young's opinions near what Joe Rogan says on his pop podcast (a Spotify exclusive).

Before this calendar week, Young sent an ultimatum in an open up letter of the alphabet to his manager and label. Spotify needed to, Young said, remove The Joe Rogan Experience podcast or his music from its networks. The letter, which you can read on Young'due south site, stated in function "I am doing this because Spotify is spreading imitation information almost vaccines—potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation existence spread past them."

So today (Jan. 26) The Wall Street Journal reports that Spotify is going to remove Mr. Young's library from its service.

Spotify's bargain with Rogan is reportedly worth more than than $100 meg. Mr. Rogan'southward show, once (and probable nevertheless) a highly popular podcast has been a platform for a wide range of opinions.

And while Rogan'due south influence is however big, the motility to brand his show exclusive to Spotify may have decreased his reach. A written report from The Verge has shown his guests may non receive the same increment in attention afterwards they appear on the show, at least in terms of how many followers they gain on social media.

What'south been said on The Joe Rogan Experience

Neil Young is non alone in his critique of Rogan's podcast. At the beginning of January, an open alphabetic character to Spotify signed by 270 doctors and scientists called for the streaming service to adopt stricter policies around misinformation.

The letter specifically cited an episode that featured Dr. Robert Malone, who has been deplatformed past Twitter for promoting Covid-19 misinformation. During the podcast, Malone blamed the public'due south belief in vaccine efficacy on a "mass formation psychosis," an unfounded theory. Malone then went on to compare the public's acceptance of Covid vaccines to Nazi Deutschland in the 1930s. (A full transcript for the episode is available here).

Rogan has too been criticized for stating that otherwise healthy 21-year-olds did non need to receive the Covid vaccine, and for promoting Ivermectin as a cure for Covid, which also has not been proven to care for the disease.

What Spotify is saying

A Spotify representative told The Wall Street Periodical that it has already removed over 20,000 Covid-related podcast episodes since the start of the pandemic. A Spotify spokesperson gave this statement:

"Nosotros want all the world'due south music and audio content to be bachelor to Spotify users. With that comes dandy responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators. We regret Neil's determination to remove his music from Spotify, just promise to welcome him back before long."

There'southward no indication of when that will happen, just if you're a Spotify subscriber who needs to listen to "Like a Hurricane" or "Cowgirl in the Sand" correct now, at that place are plenty of streaming services that still accept Neil Immature'south back catalogue on tap.

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Henry is a senior editor at Tom's Guide roofing streaming media, laptops and all things Apple tree, reviewing devices and services for the by half dozen-plus years. Prior to joining Tom'southward Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He's too covered the wild globe of professional person wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.