I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform. They can have Rogan or Young. Not both… 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

Neil Young

With controversy surrounding the Joe Rogan Podcast’s misinformation of COVID-19, many artists and users have decided to pull the plug on Spotify. Starting on January 24th, singer-songwriter Neil Young wrote an open letter to the music service giving the company an ultimatum: remove Joe Rogan’s podcast or delete the artist’s catalog off the company’s platform. Raising support for the Heart of Gold singer, many colleagues (including Joni Mitchell, Stephen Stills, David Crosby, and Graham Nash) joined the protest and declared to cut ties with Spotify. Nonetheless, Having invested one hundred million dollars on Rogan, Spotify sided with the comedian and withdrew Young’s discography off the streaming site.

In conjunction with the trending hashtag “Delete Spotify” off twitter, an avalanche of individuals also declared to either delete the app or remove their catalog off the site. These people include, but not limit:

Singer, Songwriter, India.Arie, who’s protests against Rogan, also include his language around race.

University of Houston research professor and podcaster, Brené Brown.

Mary L. Trump, Niece of Donald Trump.

E Street Band guitarist, Nils Lofgren.

Prince Harry, along with his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle

Essayist and author of “Bad Feminist,” Roxane Gay.

In response to the movement, Spotify declared to “add a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes a discussion about COVID-19”. Apologizing, Joe Rogan made a statement on his Instagram pledging to “do my best to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people’s perspectives, so we can maybe find a better point of view. I don’t want to just show the contrary opinion of what the narrative is. I want to show all kinds of opinions so that we can all figure out what’s going on,” claiming to never “do anything with his podcast other than just talk to people and have interesting conversations.”

Overall, Spotify’s decision to keep Rogan has created a Rube Goldberg effect that keeps unfolding each day. Polls conducted by Forrester Research on February 1st indicate that 19 percent of users have or “intend” to delete Spotify. Rogan, again, made another apology after a video compilation highlighted by India.Arie, showcased him using the “N-word”.

For more information on the situation, stay tuned to Glasse Factory.

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Michael Collins Author

Just a guy who likes music.

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Michael Collins Author

Just a guy who likes music.