Joni Mitchell removing her music from Spotify: ‘I stand with Neil Young’

Chris Willman Music WriterThe full lineup of exclusive titles for April’s Record Store Day has been announced, with the expected title from official RSD 2022 ambassador Taylor Swift. Her first-time release of a “The Lakes” single leads the way for hundreds of releases that range from a deluxe “Blue Velvet” soundtrack reissue and two John Williams 90th-birthday releases to rarities collections from Joni Mitchell, Lou Reed and David Bowie… and from unreleased jazz concerts by Charles Mingus and Bill Evans to vinyl reissues of albums by Prince, Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey, Childish Gambino, Stevie Nicks, the Cure, Kacey Musgraves and Pearl Jam.This year’s RSD will be on April 23 — the weekend after Easter, and Tax Day, to lighten the load on religious or business conflicts.

Neil Young has taken another swipe at Spotify after pulling his music from the platform to take a stand against COVID-19 vaccine misinformation being spread by podcaster Joe Rogan.

Many of the top musicians in the industry are making their voices heard – by taking their voices away.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOn Wednesday (Feb. 2), nearly a week after Joni Mitchell requested for her music to be removed from Spotify, several of her albums remain available on the streaming service.

Failure are the latest act to announce they’re pulling their music from Spotify following the ongoing COVID controversy involving Joe Rogan.Last month hundreds of scientists and medical professionals asked Spotify to address COVID misinformation on its platform, sparked by comments made on The Joe Rogan Experience.More than 270 members of the science and medical community signed the open letter, which called Rogan’s actions “not only objectionable and offensive but also medically and culturally dangerous”.Soon after, Neil Young demanded that his music be pulled from Spotify, asserting in a since-deleted open letter to his management that content like Rogan’s podcast “spread[s] false information about vaccines”.The streaming platform obliged, later confirming that Young’s content would indeed be removed from the platform.Other musicians and entertainers have since followed suit in removing their music and content from the platform including Janis Joplin, Graham Nash and Stewart Lee.Now, in a lengthy Facebook statement, cult alternative rockers Failure have announced that they too are planning to remove their music from Spotify in protest of the service platforming misinformation about the coronavirus vaccine as well as its overall business model.“Failure have wrestled with the question of Spotify and whether to have our newest music, which we control, on the platform,” the band began their statement.

Claudia Eller Co-Editor-in-ChiefWhen Neil Young pulled his music from Spotify over the audio streamer’s continued support of Joe Rogan, whom he accused of spreading “misinformation and lies” about COVID via his podcast interviews, there were some nasty “who cares?” tweets directed at the folk-rock icon. But the haters should care that this deadly pandemic has been raging for nearly two years and it ain’t over yet.Young has been adamant for some time that artists shouldn’t be touring because of COVID; he even pulled out of a Farm Aid benefit, a charity he co-founded.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDavid Crosby and Stephen Stills have joined Neil Young and Graham Nash in asking their labels to remove their collective recordings from Spotify.According to the announcement, in support of stopping harmful misinformation about Covid-19 on Joe Rogan’s Spotify-hosted podcast, the musicians have decided to remove their records from the streaming platform including the recordings of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; Crosby, Stills & Nash and Crosby-Nash, as well as Crosby’s and Stills’ solo projects. Nash has already begun the process to take down his solo recordings.In a unified statement, the band members commented, “We support Neil and we agree with him that there is dangerous disinformation being aired on Spotify’s Joe Rogan podcast. While we always value alternate points of view, knowingly spreading disinformation during this global pandemic has deadly consequences. Until real action is taken to show that a concern for humanity must be balanced with commerce, we don’t want our music – or the music we made together – to be on the same platform.” Reps for Spotify did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.Following a similar request by Joni Mitchell, the move reunites the five artists, who have been friends and collaborators since the 1960s, in a stance that they certainly could not have imagined 50 years ago.

David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash have issued a statement supporting former bandmate Neil Young in seeking the removal of their music from Spotify in protest of podcaster Joe Rogan.

India.Arie says she will remove her music and podcast SongVersation from Spotify, making the R&B songwriter the latest musician to leave the streaming platform over comments made by Joe Rogan on his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience. "Neil Young opened a door that I MUST walk through," India.Arie wrote on Instagram, referring to Young's decision to leave Spotify over vaccine misinformation on Rogan's podcast.

Joe Rogan controversy. In separate Instagram posts, Graham Nash and India Arie announced that they're leaving the music streaming platform, following in the footsteps of Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. All of the Spotify exits are in response to podcast's COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, save Arie, who cited Rogan's «language about race» as the reason she's acting.In response to criticism against Rogan's COVID-19 interviews, the podcaster said he would do his «best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people perspectives so we can maybe find a better point of view.» Spotify, meanwhile, confirmed that it is in the process of adding a «content advisory» to any podcast episode that includes discussion of COVID-19 in an «effort to combat misinformation.»In his post, Nash noted that he's taking the same action as Young because he «completely agree[s] with and support[s]» his Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young bandmate, who was the first to pull his music from Spotify.«There is a difference between being open to varying viewpoints on a matter and knowingly spreading false information which some 270 medical professionals have derided not only false but dangerous,» Nash wrote, citing an open letter in which scientists, medical professionals, professors, and science communicators asked Spotify to stop spreading Rogan's «baseless conspiracy theories.»«Likewise there is a difference between misinformation, in which one is unaware that what is being said is false, versus disinformation which is knowingly false and intended to mislead and sway pubic opinion,» Nash continued.

Neil Young’s former and longtime bandmates Graham Nash and Nils Lofgren, along with singer-songwriter India.Arie, are the latest musicians to join Neil Young and Joni Mitchell in announcing the removal of their songs from Spotify.

Zack Sharf Graham Nash and India Arie are the latest music artists to announce they are following in the footsteps of Neil Young and Joni Mitchell by removing their music from Spotify. Nash said in a statement that he “completely agrees” with his Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young bandmate Neil Young after “having heard the COVID disinformation spread by Joe Rogan on Spotify.” Nash added, “I am requesting that my solo recordings be removed from the service.”While Young, Mitchell and Nash exited Spotify because of Joe Rogan’s podcast spreading COVID misinformation, India Arie noted on Instagram that she is leaving Spotify because of Rogan’s “language about race.”“Neil Young opened a door that I must walk through,” Arie wrote on Instagram.

Joe Rogan admitted today that he doesn’t “always get it right” on his podcast and promised to “do better” going forward as Spotify scrambled this weekend to contain the growing backlash to the ex-Fear Factor host’s take on Covid-19 vaccines.

While fans of Neil Young can no longer hear the Canadian rock legend’s music via Spotify, reports that Barry Manilow’s music was similarly being removed are apparently not true.

Neil Young has taken a stand against the COVID-19 vaccine misinformation being disseminated on Spotify via “The Joe Rogan Experience”, pulling all his music off the music-streaming service in protest.

Neil Young bandmate Nils Lofgren is the latest musician to take his solo work off of Spotify, in protest of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation being spread by Joe Rogan.Lofgren, 70, joined Canadian legends Young and Joni Mitchell in removing their music from the streaming service in protest of the podcaster.“A few days ago, my wife Amy and I became aware of Neil and Daryl [Hannah] standing with hundreds of health care professionals, scientists, doctors and nurses in calling out Spotify for promoting lies and misinformation that are hurting and killing people,” the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer wrote on Young’s newsletter Saturday.“When these heroic women and men, who’ve spent their lives healing and saving ours, cry out for help you don’t turn your back on them for money and power. You listen and stand with them.”Rogan has pushed unproven conspiracy theories and anti-vaccination messages on his popular show “The Joe Rogan Experience.”Spotify officials ruled his commentaries “didn’t meet the threshold for removal,” based on policies that allow podcasters to criticize medical guidance, according to internal memos reviewed by The Verge.“We apply our policies consistently and objectively,” Spotify PR leader Dustee Jenkins reportedly told employees.

Crazy Horse and E Street Band guitarist Nils Lofgren is the latest artist to announce he’s removing his music from Spotify in support of Neil Young.In a post shared to the Neil Young Archives yesterday (January 29), Lofgren expressed his solidarity with Young, actress Daryl Hannah and the doctors, scientists and nurses who have called out “Spotify for promoting lies and misinformation that are hurting and killing people”.“When these heroic women and men, who’ve spent their lives healing and saving ours, cry out for help you don’t turn your back on them for money and power. You listen and stand with them,” he wrote.“As I write this letter, we’ve now gotten the last 27 years of my music taken off Spotify.

James Blunt has weighed in on the Joe Rogan Spotify controversy by issuing a hilarious threat. Tweeting this morning, the You’re Beautiful singer said if Joe Rogan isn’t removed from the streaming service, he will release new music. The warning read: “If @spotify doesn’t immediately remove @joerogan, I will release new music onto the platform.

Neil Young's footsteps and pulling her music from Spotify amid their stance over the platform siding with Joe Rogan's podcast.The Canadian singer-songwriter posted a brief statement Friday on her website with the headline «I Stand With Neil Young!» She wrote, «I've decided to remove all my music from Spotify.»«Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives,» the statement continued. «I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.»In referencing the global scientific and medical communities, Mitchell, best known for her classic «Big Yellow Taxi» and «A Case of You,» was referring to the more than 200 scientists, medical professionals and science communicators who signed an open letter asking the platform to stop spreading Rogan's «baseless conspiracy theories.»«Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Joe Rogan has repeatedly spread misleading and false claims on his podcast, provoking distrust in science and medicine,» the letter read in part.