Singer Joni Mitchell stated Friday she was pulling her music from Spotify over “lies” on the streaming service about Covid-19, simply days after fellow musical titan Neil Young did the identical.
In a post on her web site, the “Big Yellow Taxi” singer stated she was supporting Young, who clashed with Spotify over its wildly in style “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast.
“I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify,” Mitchell wrote.
“Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives.
“I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the worldwide scientific and medical communities on this difficulty.”
Mitchell’s website also carried a copy of an open letter to Spotify by medics and other scientists calling on the company to establish a misinformation policy to combat Rogan’s repeated falsehoods and conspiracy theories around the coronavirus pandemic.
There was no immediate comment from Spotify.
Young, the voice behind “Heart of Gold” and “Harvest Moon,” yanked his music from Spotify this week after telling the service it had to choose between him and Rogan.
He accused Spotify of “spreading faux details about vaccines — doubtlessly inflicting dying” by putting out Rogan’s podcast, which racks up millions of listens.
“Spotify has grow to be the house of life threatening COVID misinformation,” he wrote. “Lies being offered for cash.”
“I noticed I couldn’t proceed to assist SPOTIFY’s life threatening misinformation to the music loving public.”
Young had over six million monthly listeners on the popular streaming platform. His fellow Canadian Mitchell currently has 3.7 million.
Rogan has a multi-year exclusive deal with Spotify, reportedly worth $100 million, and a massive following.
Critics say his podcast is a platform for conspiracy theories and disinformation, particularly over Covid-19.
Rogan has discouraged vaccination in young people and promoted the off-label use of the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin to treat the virus.
In a statement this week, Spotify said: “We need all of the world’s music and audio content material to be accessible to Spotify customers.
“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,” the service stated, “but hope to welcome him back soon.”
Be First to Comment