Joni Mitchell said she is seeking to remove all of her music from Spotify in solidarity with Neil Young, they both sing about American freedom and peaceful understanding, but their actions show they do not believe in the first amendment. Mitchell and Young are concerned with the spread of what they call vaccination misinformation on Spotify from people like Joe Rogan, but they are both guilty of their own spread of lies and wrong information. As reported by the AP:
So far Spotify is holding fast and rejecting the idea to expel anyone from their streaming service, which is the basis for the Joni Mitchell Neil Young protest
NEW YORK (AP) — Joni Mitchell said Friday she is seeking to remove all of her music from Spotify in solidarity with Neil Young, who ignited a protest against the streaming service for airing a podcast that featured Joe Rogan who has spread in their opinion, misinformation about the coronavirus.
Mitchell, who like Young is a California-based songwriter who had much of her success in the 1970s, is the first prominent musician to join Young’s effort.
“Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives,” Mitchell said Friday in a message posted on her website. “I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.”
Following Young’s action this week, Spotify said it had policies in place to remove misleading content from its platform and has removed more than 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.
But the service has said nothing about comedian Joe Rogan, whose podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” is the centerpiece of the controversy. Last month Rogan interviewed on his podcast Dr. Robert Malone, an infectious disease specialist who has been banned from Twitter for spreading COVID misinformation.
Rogan is one of the streaming service’s biggest stars, with a contract that could earn him more than $100 million.
Young had called on other artists to support him following his action. While Mitchell, 78, is not a current hitmaker, the Canadian native’s Spotify page said she had 3.7 million monthly listeners to her music. Her songs “Big Yellow Taxi” and “A Case of You” have both been streamed more than 100 million times on the service.
In a message on his website Friday, Young said that “when I left Spotify, I felt better.”
“Private companies have the right to choose what they profit from, just as I can choose not to have my music support a platform that disseminates harmful information,” he wrote. “I am happy and proud to stand in solidarity with the front-line health care workers who risk their lives every day to help others.”
There was no immediate response to a request for comment from Spotify.
By DAVID BAUDER Media Writer
