Has Canadian Neil Young started an anti-Spotify revolution?

Legendary Canadian musician Neil Young has been all over the news since he gave the streaming platform Spotify an ultimatum last week. Young told the platform he was not happy that it was allowing Joe Rogan to spread Covid-19 misinformation on his podcast, which is exclusively aired on Spotify.

Joe Rogan is a former reality television host (remember 'Fear Factor'?), turned comedian, and host of the podcast 'The Joe Rogan Experience.'

Rogan's show has sparked controversy on more than one occasion, but recently the most significant issue has been the spreading of misinformation about Covid on his show.

Rogan has promoted the conspiracy theory that hospitals are financially incentivized to record Covid-19 as the cause of death. He has also promoted the use of ivermectin, an anti-parasitic treatment for animals, to treat Covid, among other offenses.

Young said, "“I am doing this because Spotify is spreading false information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them … They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”

Neil Young promised that if Spotify did not remove Joe Rogan's podcast from the platform, he would no longer permit his music to be streamed on Spotify.

When the news broke, it was not surprising that Spotify had chosen Rogan (for whom the platform reportedly paid $100 million) over Neil Young. Spotify said that they were disappointed in "Neil's decision...but hope to welcome him back soon."

The streaming giant most likely hoped that would be the end of the controversy, but it seems that at age 76, Neil Young may have started a revolution.

In fact, according to The Guardian, Spotify's shares dropped by 6% over two days following the decision. The shares began to recover slightly, but then fellow Candian performer Joni Mitchell joined Neil Young's cause.

Joni Mitchell announced that she would also remove her music from Spotify. Mitchell said, “Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.”

Following in Joni Mitchell's footsteps, artist Nils Lofgren joined this "anti-Spotify" movement. Regarding his decision, Lofgren said, "We encourage all musicians, artists, and music lovers everywhere to stand with us all and cut ties with Spotify."

Lofgren continued, “Music is our planet’s sacred weapon, uniting and healing billions of souls every day. Pick up your sword and start swinging. Neil always has. Stand with him, us (Joni Mitchell!) and others. It’s a powerful action you can all take now, to honor truth, humanity, and the heroes risking their lives every day to save ours.”

The Royals also are not impressed with Spotify's decision to stand by Joe Rogan. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who are locked into a multi-year podcast partnership with Spotify for Archewell Audio, their company, had previously expressed concerns about the spread of COVID misinformation of Spotify last April.

On Sunday, January 30, the Archewell Foundation spokesperson released a statement about Spotify's current troubles: “We have continued to express our concerns to Spotify to ensure changes to its platform are made to help address this public health crisis. We look to Spotify to meet this moment and are committed to continuing our work together as it does.”

Other younger artists may not be leaving Spotify; it could be career ending for some. However, it doesn't mean they aren't doing their bit to raise awareness. For example, James Blunt shared this tongue-in-cheek post on Twitter:  "If @spotify doesn’t immediately remove @joerogan, I will release new music onto the platform. #youwerebeautiful"

There have also been rumors that The Foo Fighters might be joining the cause. If the rumors turn out to be true and more artists join the #byespotify movement, the platform could look quite different in six months time.

In addition, The Guardian reported that hundreds of medical experts and scientists have signed an open letter to Spotify.

In the letter, they write that Rogan has “repeatedly spread misleading and false claims on his podcast, provoking distrust in science and medicine” and also had “spread a number of unsubstantiated conspiracy theories.”

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, is even thanking Young on Twitter.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote: “@NeilYoungNYA, thanks for standing up against misinformation and inaccuracies around #COVID19 vaccination. Public and private sector, in particular #socialmedia platforms, media, individuals – we all have a role to play to end this pandemic and infodemic.”

More and more people are calling others to cancel their Spotify subscriptions. The number of subscribers that the platform has lost is not known. However, a Spotify customer support team message to subscribers said they were “getting a lot of contacts so may be slow to respond.”

According to reports, as of Sunday, January 30, Spotify has lost over US$2 billion in market value despite adding content warnings to potentially problematic podcasts. Spotify has also removed more than 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID-19 that went against their "detailed content policies."