Neil Young Demands Spotify Remove His Music Over ‘False Information About Vaccines’
By: By ANDY GREENE - Rolling Stone
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Neil Young Demands Spotify Remove His Music Over ‘False Information About Vaccines’
“They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young,” Neil Young wrote in a letter to his manager and label. “Not both”
Neil Young and The Promise of the Real performing at British Summertime 2019, Hyde Park in London.
KGC-138/STAR MAX/IPx/AP
Neil Young posted a since-deleted letter to his management team and record label demanding that they remove his music from Spotify . “I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake 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.”
“I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform,” he continued. “They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young. Not both.” Young is referencing the steady stream of misinformation about vaccines that Joe Rogan has peddled on The Joe Rogan Experience . Last month, 270 doctors, physicians, and science educators signed an open letter asking Spotify to stop spreading Rogan’s baseless claims.
“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,” the letter reads. “Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy.”
Young removed most of his music from Spotify several years ago because he felt the sound quality on the service was too low, but he ultimately relented. “That’s where people get music,” he told Rolling Stone in 2019 . “I want people to hear my music no matter what they have to get through to do it. I’m just trying to make it so they hear a lot more and enjoy it a lot more, but sell it for the same price because music is music.”
Young’s letter was addressed to his manager and a Warner executive. At press time, Spotify hadn’t responded to a request from Rolling Stone asking if they planned to remove Young’s music. It’s still available, but it might be smart to listen to Zuma and Rust Never Sleeps while you still can. They could disappear at any moment.
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WAY TO GO, NEIL. Nice to see a Canadian putting principle ahead of money, acting with a lot more common sense and maturity than many in the USA, and unfortunately, in Canada as well.
As for Eric Clapton, who I USED to think was the greatest electric guitarist in the world, YOU CAN GO TO HELL ERIC, which isn't where all the innocent people you've succeeded in killing have probably gone.
Never considered that Eric was the best guitarist ever and he is now a stupid person. Sigh.
Just curious, I read the seeded article, where did Clapton come into the discussion? Besides everyone knows that Jimi was the greatest guitarist who ever lived... Even Clapton says so...
I once thought Clapton was the world's greatest electric guitar player, but now in my opinion Jimi Hendrix playing The Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock deserves to be ensconced in the Smithsonian as the greatest electric guitar piece ever recorded.
There are PAGES of this story on a Microsoft Bing Search of Eric Clapton aniti-vax.
Agreed.
And thanks for the link...
Clapton is a great guitarist but other than that I have little use for him but here is who thinks are the best.
Eric Clapton’s favourite guitarists:
only one name i would add to that
Carlos Santana.
not everyone knows of Robert Johnson , good choice
Yes, I've seen opinions that the three greatest electric guitarists in the world are (no particular order) Clapton, Hendrix and Santana.
kinda hard to put them in order really , they all, have a "sweet spot " where it becomes magic .
if i had to choose a top 5 , living or dead ?
no order , Hendrix , Clapton Santanna , Prince, and Robert Johnson .
that last has very few recordings available to compare to others .
But crossroad blues , is both eerie and magical at the same time , likely because of the myth that one is out there on the net .not that it does it justice .
Oh yeah, Carlos has to be part of it. Being a blue lover I have all of Robert Johnson's recordings and of course the ''Father of the Delta Blues'', the great Charley Patton.
Here is a two-hour concert ''A Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughn'' with some of the world's greatest guitar players on stage together.
The great Robert Johnson with the classic, ''Sweet Home Chicago''...
Terry Kath of the band Chicago was probably the most underrated electric guitarist ever.
His famous solo starts at about the 3:00 mark.
Why Jimi Hendrix Called Chicago’s Terry Kath The Best Guitarist In The Universe
Terry Kath accidentally shot and killed himself while fooling around with his gun in 1978. He was 31.
Good for him!
And apparently Spotify removed Young because they like disinformation more.
Money Money Money
Thomas , your more than likely right , it came down to a matter of which actually brought in more ducats, and since the contract with WB likely allowed them both to add or remove items , they did .
To quote Skynrd from a song mentioning NY , dont need him around anyhow ....
Kudos Neil.
"Spotify streams represent about 60 per cent of his streaming income"
As I said, It's good to see a man who considers his principles more important that his income.
Joni Mitchell has just joined Neil Young in demanding the removal of her songs from Spotify. That's no surprise to me, they've been good friends since the 1960s. Maybe if more musicians would put principles ahead of money it might have some effect. I know America's vaunted free speech is more important than the people who die because they believed Joe Rogan - in my opinion he should be charged with murder and FUCK your free speech.
Artists who choose to remain should be boycotted by their fans.
I don't know who the hell has locked most of the current articles, but I just unlocked mine, and Creative Arts. It's up to the authors to unlock their articles because I won't do it without their permission.
That's a great question Buzz. Just be careful when asking questions, lest one gets labeled "a conspiracy theorist."
That's the second time you've said I asked a question when I never asked a question. Did you see a question mark? Did I start the comment with "what, who, where, when, how, did, has, or why"?
Good for Neil and Joni, I'm sure that their music will be picked up by someone else.
Neil Young doesn't own his catalog of music anymore. He doesn't have a say.
He sold 50 percent so he still owns half.
He thanked Warner Brothers, that makes big money from his music, for going along with him. I think they realize that what Neil did will make his music even more popular and will end up being a benefit rather than a detriment.
Neil turned a good folk rock band (CSN) into a great big stage rock band (CSNY).
best contribution he made to that band(CSN) was when he left it , but thats personal opinion .
Are we talking music or personalities? Crosby had a lot to do with the problems.
Played in bands my whole life and many fellow musicians are a pain in the ass!
Except for me of course. Bassists are uniters and not dividers.
I enjoyed CSN before Young joined , and after he left , while he was there , he didnt really conribute much i saw , just one more person playing and harmonizing , in my view it wasnt good , but then again im not a neil young fan to begin with , i think he was a run of the mill lounge playing lizard as far as talent , chaulk it up to personal taste.
As for personalities affecting groups , it happens in ALL of them and is to be expected .
Except for Paul and John... Paul wanted to stay in studio and John wanted to go back on tour... They couldn't work it out...
Crosby was a total asshole, and I personally experienced it myself. Joni Mitchell is an old friend - I've posted a few times how we first met the evening she first came to Toronto, to see, as I did, the 1964 Mariposa Folk Festival. We spent that evening together in the living room of a rooming house on Madison Avenue in Toronto, and she played some of her music for me. I got her her first paying gig in Ontario at a coffee house in Hamilton, Ontario, called The Black Swan, that was run by a couple friends of mine who came with me to Toronto that weekend. Two or three years later she was going with Crosby, and brought him to my house when they were in Toronto because she wanted my opinion on some new songs she had written, and he was absolutely horrid both to her and to me. I couldn't wait for him to leave.
Which is why I no longer play with touring bands.
I got way too old for that a long time ago.
But I still have dreams about the good old days.
It took me awhile to get used to Neil's twangy voice and guitar style.
like i said , chaulk it up to personal tatste , he just isnt someone i would pay to listen too, he never was .
This won't cost you a cent. Neil Young and The Band.. At Toronto's Mariposa Folk Festival (1972) Neil asked me what I wanted to hear him sing, I told him "Helpless". In this video Joni joins in from offstage....(LINK) ->
Didn't you hear him when he was in Buffalo Springfield?
Spotify's stock has dropped 12% which does not seem a lot, but it is hitting them in their pocketbook big time....GOOD!
Barry Manilo has now joined Neil in this. Maybe Spotify can lure Eric Clapton to further its deadly cause. Spotify had to close down because it couldn't handle the flood of listeners dropping it.
Actually, yesterday, CBS news was reporting that Barry, when asked about it, categorically denied pulling anything from Spotify now or in the future ...
It was also reported on several local talk shows with recordings of him denying it...
And Spotify hasn't shut down, they closed their inhouse podcast studio , which was in the works long before this bru-ha-ha came up... The announcement to the employees went out a week before this Neil Young crap surfaced...
And 12% in the market, a market that regularly has 30+% swings is irrelevant...
And if so, proof that gandpappy was right. "Don't believe anything you read or hear and only half of what you see." But even he was premature because he said it before photoshopping and video-editing started, so now you can only believe half of what you see live with your own eyes, and even then you can't be absolutely sure. So I guess to be absolutely safe, don't believe ANYTHING.
{chuckle} Absolutely Brother Absolutely....
Who is Barry?
Barry Manilow ?
lol for the younger crowd just say the guy who sang the song in hellboy the golden army , i cant live without you ....
thats like saying kenny G , he played the song in cars that made mac fall asleep .
Who is Barry?
nieces daughter asked on FB , "neil who?" an appropriate question im sure is being asked by those 30 and under .
He could always go back to his acting career, i loved when he played mama fratelli in Goonies ........and mama in throw mama from the train ...
I think it just depends on individual tastes in what music they prefer to listen to. I'll never forget Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, Woody Guthrie, Rosemary Clooney, Frank Sinatra, or Bob Dylan no matter how long ago they performed. But don't bother even asking me the names of any Heavy Metal group or rap performer (won't use the word "singer" for them) and I don't have a clue about them, but your "under 30s" could probably list their names. No way I would ever forget Neil Young and Joni Mitchell or not appreciate their music because I also knew them personally.
oh i agree , it does entirely depend on individual tatstes , and i think the nieces daughter , (15 now ) was mainly reponding to some of the memes coming out like the one i saw , under30= neil who? 30 to 59 , = he is still alive ? 60 and over = what the F is "spotify ?
Have known many famous musicians over the years. They're just folk.
Went to too many rock star funerals over time.
I can say the same, and I agree. But I've known a few who were "different", so to speak.