Spotify has removed Neil Young 's music after he slammed Joe Rogan for spreading vaccine misinformation.
The streaming service confirmed it was removing music at the iconic rocker's request after Young vented his fury over Spotify refusing to sever ties with Rogan’s controversial podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience.
Earlier this week, Young said Spotify had to choose between him or the podcaster, as he criticised Rogan for his anti-vax views.
The Canadian-American musician published a letter to his manager and record label which addressed his concerns over Spotify’s deal with Rogan, which was inked in 2020 and is reportedly worth more than $100 million.
“With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, [The Joe Rogan Experience], which is hosted exclusively on Spotify, is the world’s largest podcast and has tremendous influence,” Young wrote.
“Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy,” he added.
The letter was later taken down, but he issued another statement on his website, in which he called the streaming service “the home of life-threatening Covid misinformation”.
“Lies being sold for money,” Young fired.
Spotify confirmed it was removing Young’s music from the platform, and said it “regrets” the move.
“We want all the world’s music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“We have detailed content policies in place and we’ve removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to Covid since the start of the pandemic.
“We regret Neil’s decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon,” they added.
Young thanked his record label Reprise Records for supporting his decision to take a stand, and said that two-thirds of his streamed music comes from Spotify listeners.
“Thank you Warner Brothers for standing with me and taking the hit - losing 60% of my worldwide streaming income in the name of Truth," he wrote.
Rogan’s podcast is one of the streaming service’s most popular shows, and is reportedly downloaded around 200 million times each month.
