Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell has introduced that she’s eradicating all her music from Spotify. On her web site, she revealed a brief assertion saying “irresponsible persons are spreading lies which might be costing folks their lives.” She added that she stands with “Neil Young and the worldwide scientific and medical communities on this challenge.” While Mitchell did not point out COVID-19 or Joe Rogan specifically, she linked to an open letter to Spotify from a bunch of scientists and docs criticizing the host for “repeatedly unfold[ing] deceptive and false claims on his podcast, upsetting mistrust in science and drugs” all through the COVID-19 pandemic.
A number of days in the past, Young threatened to exit the platform and advised his staff that it was as a result of “Spotify is spreading faux details about vaccines.” He additionally stated that Spotify can have “[Joe] Rogan or Young. Not each.” Mitchell and Young are associates and have each contracted polio as youngsters earlier than the vaccine turned out there. Unsurprisingly, Spotify began deleting Young’s catalog from the platform shortly after information about his stance got here out, whereas additionally claiming that it is taking steps to take away disinformation from its service.
The firm stated it pulled over 20,000 COVID-related podcast episodes because the starting of the pandemic. Rogan’s present, nonetheless, continues to be very a lot out there. And that features the controversial episode with Dr. Robert Malone, who claimed that “mass formation psychosis” led folks to consider vaccines had been efficient in combating COVID-19. Spotify inked an unique deal to host The Joe Rogan Experience in 2020 and is believed to have paid over $100 million for it. The standard present is a key ingredient in Spotify’s quest to proceed dominating the podcast area, so it actually would not come as a shock that it was Young’s music that needed to discover a new dwelling.