Spotify To Take Down Neil Young’s Music After His Joe Rogan Ultimatum

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Spotify is in the process of removing Neil Young’s music from its library.

The decision follows after the musician penned an open letter to his manager and label asking them to remove his music from Spotify should the service continue to host Joe Rogan’s podcast.

“They can have Rogan or Young. Not both,” said the “Harvest Moon” singer.

The 76-year-old wrote that he does not appreciate Spotify’s affiliation with Rogan.

Young said Rogan’s podcast – The Joe Rogan Experience – is spreading “false information” regarding Covid-19 vaccines, adding that it is “potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them”.

A spokesperson for Spotify has confirmed that the service will not be pulling Rogan’s content and therefore will abide by Young’s request to remove his music.

“We want all the world’s music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators,” they said.

“We have detailed content policies in place and we’ve removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to Covid 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 a now-deleted letter posted on Young’s website on Monday (24 January), the singer addressed his management team at LookoutManagement and Warner Bros.

“Please immediately inform Spotify that I am actively canceling all my music availability on Spotify as soon as possible,” wrote Young.

“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,” he wrote.

“Please act on this immediately today and keep me informed of the time schedule,” the letter added. “I want you to let Spotify know immediately today that I want all of my music off their platform.”