Photo courtesy of Unsplash.
Known for his polarizing political views, podcaster and comedian Joe Rogan, is at the center of a new Spotify controversy. Fed up with Spotify prioritizing the money his podcast brings in over the misinformation being spread on it, several artists, including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, have pulled their works off the streaming service.
On The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan hosts comedians like Kevin Hart and Amy Schumer; political activists and commentators, including Editor Emeritus for The Daily Wire Ben Shapiro and Innocence Project ambassador Josh Dubin; and many other people in the public eye, including Neil deGrasse Tyson, Elon Musk, Mike Tyson and Quentin Tarantino.
On a Dec. 2021 episode (#1757) Rogan hosted Dr. Robert Malone, who was banned from Twitter for spreading misinformation during the pandemic. Malone has promoted an idea that the vaccine has toxic cells in it, and was one of the people who first suggested taking ivermectin, which is a dewormer typically used for horses and cows, as a COVID cure. When Rogan announced that he had COVID in late August/early September of 2021, he shared that he took ivermectin, along with antibiotics, monoclonal antibodies and a vitamin drop. Rogan has not gotten the vaccine, and suggests that young and healthy people do not need it.
During his appearance on Rogan, Malone compared the pandemic and vaccines to 1920s and ‘30s Germany. He said that “mass formation psychosis” was happening in America with society’s reaction to the pandemic, which he claims is what happened during the rise of Nazi Germany.
On Jan. 24, Neil Young posted and then removed a letter to his website, where he announced that he would be taking his music off of Spotify, “because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them.” Joni Mitchell, who is under the same label, Reprise Records, followed suit. “Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives.” Podcaster and social psychologist Brené Brown also paused putting her podcast on Spotify, but has since gone back to posting content due to her multi-year contract with the company. If she had kept her work off of the platform, Brown would not have been able to put it elsewhere.
Twitter was flooded with #CancelSpotify and #DeleteSpotify in the past weeks. Roughly 380 million people are paying subscribers of the streaming service. According to a poll done by Forrester Research, nearly 19% of users have canceled their subscription, or are going to. However, this is likely not a totally accurate percentage; some people may say they are planning to cancel their subscription but do not end up following through. Some respondents answered that they would consider leaving if other musicians also pulled their works. However, because many artists do not have full control over their collections, and the service is so integral to success in the music industry, this is unlikely to occur.
In a poll conducted for this article on campus, out of 15 respondents, just over half were aware of the situation, and only 3 people had considered deleting the service, but did not end up doing so. “I feel that Spotify is responsible for the misinformation being spread and that they should not be allowing Joe Rogan to continue to be spreading lies. I also believe that more artists should band together and threaten to leave as well,” said one pollee. This is unlikely, because of how large of an impact streaming, and especially Spotify, have on today’s music industry. Another pollee said that “While I don’t think Joe Rogan should be censored, I am angry with the situation. Spotify does not seem to care that MULTIPLE classic rock artists have removed their music from the platform as a result of Rogan’s podcast. As a die hard Spotify user, it is extremely frustrating, especially as someone who enjoyed the music of Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash.”
On Feb. 4, Artist India Arie announced through Instagram that she would be taking her music off of Spotify because of previous racist remarks and slurs used by Rogan, a white man, in his podcast. Arie included a compilation of this speech from Rogan in her post. That same day 73 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience were deleted off of Spotify. He did apologize for his use of the language after the video was released.
Artists have used their music to sway the music giant before. In 2021, Adele made a deal that Spotify would remove the button that automatically shuffles albums and playlists, in exchange for streaming rights to her newest album. Also, in 2014, Taylor Swift took her music off of the platform in an argument that “valuable things should be paid for,” as artists are paid much less for streaming than when their works are bought. She came back without a major announcement or real change – at least for smaller artists. Young also removed his music once before, because he thought that the sound quality was poor, though he returned because, “that’s where people get music.”
Rogan’s podcast has an exclusive $100 million deal with Spotify, so it is unlikely that either party will decide to stop working together anytime soon. Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek wrote in an open letter that: “While I strongly condemn what Joe has said and I agree with his decision to remove past episodes from our platform, I realize some will want more. And I want to make one point very clear – I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer. We should have clear lines around content and take action when they are crossed, but canceling voices is a slippery slope. Looking at the issue more broadly, it’s critical thinking and open debate that powers real and necessary progress.”
Young, Mitchell and Arie’s move might not have led to a larger Spotify or Rogan takedown like they hoped, but they may help bring larger change in the future as artists realize the power that their music holds.
