Mitchell follows Neil Young
Joni Mitchell is following in Neil Young’s footsteps by removing her music from Spotify due to Joe Rogan’s podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. Mitchell shared a solidarity letter on her website on Friday (Jan 28th).
“I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify. 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,” Mitchell shares.
As of this writing, Mitchell’s music is still streaming on Spotify.
Rogan has been under fire lately due to “misleading and false claims” about COVID-19 vaccines. Last month, 270 doctors, scientists and educators signed a letter demanding that Spotify implement a misinformation policy due to Rogan’s vaccination claims.
“With an essential 11 million listeners per episode, JRE, which is hosted exclusively on Spotify, is the world’s largest podcast and has tremendous influence,” the letter reads in part. “Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy.”
Earlier this week, Young sent an ultimatum to the streaming giant that they either remove his own music or Rogan’s podcast due to the claims. Despite having sold half of of his publishing to Hipgnosis last year, Young was able to convince his partners and his label, Reprise Records, to remove his music from the platform.
Young’s music was removed Thursday (Jan 27th) after Spotify shared that they “hope to welcome him back soon.”
