Spotify to remove Neil Young's music over Joe Rogan’s COVID misinformation

Earlier this week Neil Young shared a now-deleted letter on his Neil Young Archives site addressed to his management and record label, requesting that his music should be removed from Spotify "immediately".

Young wrote, "I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them. Please act on this immediately today and keep me informed of the time schedule."

"I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform," he added. "They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young. Not both."

The disinformation Young referenced in his letter is related to The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, which has seen 270 doctors, physicians and science educators sign an open letter asking Spotify to remove Rogan from the platform.

Yesterday (26 January) a spokesperson for Spotify told The Hollywood Reporter, "We want all the world’s music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators. We have detailed content policies in place and we’ve removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID since the start of the pandemic. We regret Neil’s decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon."

Young also shared a new post on his Neil Young Archives site, calling Spotify a "very damaging force via its public misinformation and lies about COVID."

He also wrote that "Spotify represents 60% of the streaming of my music to listeners around the world," and thanked Warner Brothers-owned Reprise Records for "standing with me and taking the hit - losing 60% of my worldwide streaming income in the name of Truth."

Young concluded his letter by writing, "I sincerely hope that other artists and record companies will move off the Spotify platform and stop supporting Spotify's deadly misinformation about COVID."