Spotify says it will remove Neil Young’s music, according to reports

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A day after the musician in a now deleted post on his official website expressed that he no longer wanted his music on the platform because of its relationship with the divisive podcast host Joe Rogan’s comments about Covid-19 vaccinations, the company says that respects Young’s request.
“We want all the music and audio content in the world to be accessible to Spotify users. With that comes a huge responsibility in balancing both listener safety and creators’ freedom,” a Spotify spokesman told The Washington Post in a statement. . “We have detailed content policies in place and we have removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to covid-19 since the start of the pandemic. We regret Neil’s decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon. “

In his post, Young asked his managers and record company to remove his music from Spotify because he said the music and podcast platform “spreads false information about vaccines – potentially causing death for those who believe this disinformation is spreading by them.” (Rolling Stone originally reported the text of the post.)

“I want you to tell Spotify right away TODAY that I want all my music off their platform,” the 76-year-old said in Monday’s post, according to Rolling Stone. “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”

On his podcast, Rogan has often made false and inaccurate claims about vaccines and Covid-19. Earlier this month, a group of more than 250 scientists, doctors and nurses wrote an open letter to Spotify, condemning the streamer for the Rogan platform and urging Spotify to warn its listeners about misinformation.

“The Joe Rogan Experience” was Spotify’s most popular podcast globally in 2021, according to Variety. It became exclusive to Spotify in 2020, when Rogan signed a multi-year exclusive licensing agreement with the streaming service.

CNN has contacted Young’s manager, his publicist at Warner Records and Spotify for a comment.

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