Neil Young
Photo: Redferns, EBET ROBERTS. All rights reserved.
“You can have either Rogan or Young. Not both” – with this ultimatum, Neil Young asked the streaming service Spotify to choose between his music and the controversial podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience”. The company has now done so and announced that it will continue to support the comedian despite the spread of misinformation about the corona virus. Neil Young’s albums were then gradually removed from the music platform over the course of the night.
Neil Young: Song catalog on Spotify has shrunk enormously overnight
Currently only “Paris 1989” and a few selected songs can be found in the artist’s discography. Whether these will also disappear remains to be seen in the coming hours. Spotify itself issued a statement on this:
“We have removed detailed content guidelines and over 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID-19 since the pandemic began. We regret Neil’s decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon.” Neil Young then released two more statements, saying he had been reminded by his lawyers that he didn’t have any Have control over the publication or deletion of their catalog of songs on Spotify. Nevertheless, he decided to publish his ultimatum.
In the course of this, he thanked his record company Warner/Reprise, which had supported him in this – although this would eliminate 60 percent of the streaming revenue. The musician also thanked Hipgnosis and Universal for their support – it was an “expensive step, but worth it for our integrity and our beliefs.”
Neil Young: The Joe Rogan Experience shares misinformation about corona vaccinations
Neil Young said in an open letter on his website on January 26, 2022: “I’m doing this because Spotify is spreading misinformation about vaccinations – potentially killing those people who believe the misinformation they’re sharing.”