
In the Spotify blog post, Ek emphasizes that Spotify has been “biased toward action” when it came to the COVID-19 pandemic situation. Not both.”Ĭiting Rogan and Spotify’s 2020 multiyear licensing deal, where Spotify gets exclusive access to The Joe Rogan Experience in exchange for what many reports have said is over $100 million, Young’s initial letter noted that JRE “is the world’s largest podcast and has tremendous influence,” while the company “has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy.” In his first letter, now deleted, Young now-famously laid down an ultimatum: Spotify could have “Rogan or Young. Neil Young no longer wanting to be on the same platform as Chappelle’s fellow comedian Joe Rogan presents a different type of problem: one major artist calling out another. That protest had its own counter-protestors, and when Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-chief executive, admitted that he “should have recognized the fact that a group of our employees was really hurting,” the issue seemed to fade into the background of a constantly humming news cycle. At the time, trans and LGBTQ comedians spoke out about Chappelle’s Netflix special, but the highest-profile action consisted of dozens of Netflix’s own employees performing a walk out. Chappelle was heavily criticized in October 2021 for bragging during his special The Closer he was “team ” and comparing trans presentation to blackface. There are differences between the controversies. And both instances feel part of a bigger, growing conversation : How much responsibility do content platforms have for their biggest stars? Young’s condemnation of Spotify echoes the whirlwind around the release of Dave Chappelle’s Netflix special The Closer, which led many creators and internal employees to slam the streamer over anti-trans content. In that role, it is important to me that we don’t take on the position of being content censor while also making sure that there are rules in place and consequences for those who violate them.” We know we have a critical role to play in supporting creator expression while balancing it with the safety of our users. Personally, there are plenty of individuals and views on Spotify that I disagree with strongly. Pick almost any issue and you will find people and opinions on either side of it. “To our very core, we believe that listening is everything. “A decade ago, we created Spotify to enable the work of creators around the world to be heard and enjoyed by listeners around the world,” Ek writes in the post. 30, in a blog post credited to Spotify founder Daniel Ek (that does not mention either Young or Rogan), Spotify announced that it was “working to add a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes a discussion about COVID-19” which, when implemented, direct listeners to a COVID hub where they can find updates from the BBC, Politico, CNN, and other mainstream news sources. The uproar caused by Young’s protest prompted Spotify to finally issue a statement on Sunday.
#Mitchell neil young spotify citing lies series#
Late last week, after a series of open letters to Spotify imploring the streaming audio site to cut host Joe Rogan loose from its podcast roster over vaccinated-related misinformation, legendary musician Neil Young voluntarily removed his music from the platform.
