Apple Music has just become the primary streaming platform for Neil Young’s entire discography after Spotify was compelled to remove the singer’s catalog after he openly criticized the platform for allowing Joe Rogan’s podcast to broadcast blatant Covid misinformation.
On Tuesday Neil Young published a letter demanding his management team to immediately remove all of his music from Spotify. “They can have [Joe] Rogan or Younger. Not both of those,” he wrote.
Since then Apple Music has been taunting the streaming giant online, humble-bragging that they are now the primary home of Young’s music. “It’s normally a good idea to stream @NeilYoungNYA,” Apple Music tweeted shortly after Young’s letter went public.
The platform has since pinned a Tweet to their account declaring that they are “the home of Neil Young” whilst the Apple Music app now features a tab on its look through page devoted to the singer’s discography.
Young demanded that his music be removed from Spotify on Monday (Jan 24) due to “life-threatening Covid falsehoods discovered in Spotify programming” – in particular those issued on Joe Rogan’s podcast. The decision to remove his catalog from the platform will lead to a large loss for Young, who reported that Spotify accounted for 60% of his streaming earnings.
In a statement issued on Wednesday (Jan 26) Spotify claimed that they had taken action against more than 20,000 podcasts due to the spread of misinformation since the pandemic began, though they have yet to comment on Rogan’s podcast in particular.
“We want all the world’s music and audio content material to be obtainable to Spotify users,” the business mentioned. “With that will come great accountability in balancing both safety for listeners and flexibility for creators… We regret Neil’s conclusion to clear away his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back quickly.”
