“Amazon has long been a leader in hi-res audio and it’s fantastic to have my entire music catalog with them in the highest quality imaginable,” said 76-year-old Young. “I would also like to thank Apple Music and Qobuz for sharing my music in high resolution.” Young previously said that he found the sound quality of Spotify “depressing”.
Young was the first artist to openly oppose Spotify and give the company the choice of either discharging him or the American presenter and comedian Joe Rogan (54). With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, The Joe Rogan Experience podcast is the most listened to podcast in the world. However, Rogan regularly spreads misinformation about the coronavirus. In April last year, he called on healthy young people not to be vaccinated. And recently he spoke with the controversial virologist Robert Malone.
Following Young’s lead, artists Joni Mitchell and Nils Lofgren also recently announced that they would remove their work from Spotify. Prince Harry and Meghan have also asked Spotify to fight disinformation more. At the end of 2020, the couple signed a million-dollar deal with Spotify to make podcasts for the company. The two are “determined” to “continue” their work together, according to their statement, but are asking the platform to make changes.
Spotify announced on Sunday that it will “guide listeners of podcasts about Covid-19 to more information” about the corona pandemic. To that end, Spotify will create a “dedicated Covid-19 Hub” that will be added to any podcast that contains a discussion about Covid-19.