What's New January 25, 2022

Neil Young’s surprising demand for Spotify

Rock legend Neil Young has recently contacted Spotify with an ultimatum; remove all of his music from the platform or remove all content produced by Joe Rogan.

The singer has accused Spotify of providing a platform for Joe Rogan to spread misinformation after Joe promoted the horse and cattle de-wormer, Ivermectin, as an option to treat Covid-19.

The letter addressed to both Young’s manager and Warner Brothers boss Tom Corson, was also posted on Young’s website and asked Spotify to pick one, him or Joe.

“They can have (Joe) Rogan or Young. Not both,” said Young.

“Please act on this immediately today and keep me informed of the time schedule.”

Rogan has been quite vocal of his general scepticism around Covid-19 vaccines and solutions to combat the spread of the virus since the beginning of the outbreak in 2020, and this hasn’t been the only attention Joe has received as a result.

In the beginning of January this year, over 270 medical professionals signed a petition to have Joe Rogan’s podcast removed from Spotify for spreading misinformation throughout the pandemic and being “a menace to public health,” particularly in his recent episode with Robert Malone posted on 31^st December 2021.

Young went on to slam Spotify in the letter saying they have a responsibility to regulate the spread of misinformation on the platform.

“With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE, which is hosted exclusively on Spotify, is the world’s largest podcast and has tremendous influence,” said Young.

“Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy.”

The letter has since been removed from Neil Young’s website.

In a recent recent Joe Rogan Experience episode with Australian, Josh Szeps, Joe shows his bias by criticizing Australia’s handling of the Covid-19 outbreak which has been a common topic on the popular podcast.