Spotify: Neil Young quits

The most listened-to podcast, “Joe Rogan Experience”, is repeatedly noticed on the streaming service for questionable attitudes to the pandemic. Despite this, Spotify remains idle. That’s why rock legend Neil Young is getting out.

With harmonica, guitar and principles: Neil Young leaves Spotify despite major losses.

Mairo Cinquetti / Imago

There is something honest and down-to-earth about Neil Young’s music with harmonica, guitar and drums. His mixture of country, folk and rock is like himself, strong in character. Even at the age of 76, he hasn’t changed. The events of this week show that. Young does without Spotify and with it a large part of his income: 60 percent of the money he generated via streaming services he earned via Spotify. He accepts that, “in the name of truth”, as he writes on his website.

The Canadian has had his music removed from the Spotify platform since Wednesday. Young had taken on the streaming giant. And at the same time with the podcaster Joe Rogan. He and some of his guests had spread false information about the corona virus and vaccinations. So Young gave Spotify an ultimatum: “You can have Rogan or you can have Young. Not both, »said the musician on Monday.

moral winner

On Wednesday it was time. It may be a lost power struggle, but many see Young as a moral winner. Because the streaming service didn’t do anything about the podcaster, Young was consistent. “I could not continue to support Spotify’s life-threatening misinformation,” writes Young on his portal. Young people in particular would use the streaming service. They believed that everything they heard on Spotify was true. “Unfortunately, they are wrong about that. I had to point that out.”

From personal experience, Young is sensitive to medical issues. His parents gave him his first guitar because he had polio. His own sons then suffered from infantile cerebral palsy, i.e. from movement disorders that have their origin in early childhood brain damage. At the age of 60, he had to have a brain aneurysm operated on and suffered cardiac arrest as a result of the operation.

$100 million for the rights

So Young’s point of view is different from that of muscle-bound Joe Rogan. The 54-year-old bald, bull-necked American also hosts fights in the brutal sport of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He has his roots in stand-up comedy. Today he is known as one of the most successful podcasters ever. His show is the most listened to on Spotify. His hour-long conversations with a wide variety of partners are downloaded around 200 million times a month, and around 11 million people listen to him per episode. Spotify paid $100 million for the rights to the Joe Rogan Experience, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Bald and muscled: Joe Rogan (left) is the most-listened-to podcaster on Spotify, but he spreads conspiracy theories.

Bald and muscled: Joe Rogan (left) is the most-listened-to podcaster on Spotify, but he spreads conspiracy theories.

Taidgh Barron / Imago

Since the beginning of the pandemic, however, Rogan has also been criticized. Last September, for example, Rolling Stone magazine wrote that Rogan had been giving his listeners misinformation about Sars-CoV-2 for a year and a half, that he was downplaying the effects of the virus and the importance of vaccinations, or inviting guests who were scientifically unrecognized treatments would advertise.

For example, the deworming drug Ivermectin was repeatedly discussed by Rogan as a Covid weapon, although there is no scientific evidence of an effect against the virus. Studies that wanted to prove this contained gross scientific flaws, parts of which were obviously fake. In addition, the drug is dangerous if the wrong dosage is used. Authorities warn against an operation against Corona.

Reports of ivermectin in right-wing media sparked a run on the drug in the United States, as well as many calls to toxicology emergency services. Various American media also see Joe Rogan and his podcast as the reason for this. “There is probably no one who promotes ivermectin more successfully than Rogan himself,” wrote Rolling Stone magazine in September.

When the podcaster fell ill with Covid, he reported via Instagram that he had also been treated with ivermectin. A few months earlier, he had invited two supporters of the drug to his show. They claimed that the media and the government were censoring information about this drug so that Big Pharma could benefit from the Corona vaccines. A classic theme of conspiracy theorists.

Of course you have to distinguish between Rogan himself and his guests. Journalism is supposed to represent different views. Spotify takes this stance in defending the podcast. “We want all of the world’s music and audio content to be available to Spotify users,” the service wrote in a statement, “which brings with it a huge responsibility when it comes to balancing listener safety and security of freedom for authors.” Spotify has detailed guidelines for content. The company says 20,000 podcast episodes related to Covid have been removed since the pandemic began.

But not the lucrative draft horse Rogan. And it is striking how often people appear on the show who oppose the scientific findings of the pandemic and mislead the formation of opinion. That’s what the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones said on Rogan’s show and denied the benefits of the corona vaccination for young people.

Last December 31st, virologist Robert Malone appeared on the podcast. Just one day Twitter had blocked him from the short message service. Malone was involved in early mRNA research and is critical of vaccines. He attracted attention even before Rogan’s visit because he compared the pandemic measures with the Hitler regime or presented the vaccinations only as a profit for the pharmaceutical industry.

reaction from science

That podcast was more evidence for observers that Rogan and Spotify encourage questionable attitudes. In response, more than 200 scientists, doctors and healthcare workers hired Open letter to Spotify online. The episode with Malone contains unfounded conspiracy theories and the format “Joe Rogan Experience” has now increasingly spread false facts about the corona virus. By allowing Spotify to do this, “the public’s trust in scientific research” is damaged. “This is not just a scientific or medical issue,” the undersigned write, “it is a sociological issue of devastating proportions, and Spotify is responsible for allowing these activities to thrive on its platform.”

Neil Young had read this letter. And his reaction to it reverberate on stage like a good amplifier. Other artists have also had their music removed from the streaming service and called for a Spotify boycott.

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