Joni Mitchell Says She’s Removing Music From Spotify: ‘Irresponsible People Are Spreading Lies’

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

Crosby, Stills & Nash have joined a growing number of acts who’ve demanded that their music be removed from Spotify amid the COVID controversy involving Joe Rogan.Members of the disbanded folk supergroup, which when joined by Neil Young were known as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, have thrown their support behind Young who last month said that he wanted all his music pulled from the streaming platform.Young took particular aim at controversial podcaster Joe Rogan – a prominent skeptic of the COVID vaccine who has a $100million exclusivity contract with Spotify – pointing out the widespread misinformation shared through his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience.Spotify complied with Young’s request, also announcing in a statement that it would add content advisories to all relevant podcast episodes.Now, Crosby, Stills & Nash have revealed their decision to back Young (Nash had already given his support to Young).pic.twitter.com/yyhHTQi7fm— David Crosby (@thedavidcrosby) February 2, 2022“We support Neil and we agree with him that there is dangerous disinformation being aired on Spotify’s Joe Rogan podcast,” the group wrote in a joint statement shared via Crosby’s social media.“While we always value alternate points of view, knowingly spreading disinformation during this global pandemic has deadly consequences.

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.

India Arie is opening up on her decision to withdraw her music and “SongVersation” podcast from Spotify following controversy over Joe Rogan’s involvement with the platform.

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.

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.

Graham Nash has declared his support for Neil Young, announcing plans to remove his music from Spotify in protest of the service platforming misinformation about the coronavirus vaccine.Young demanded that his music be pulled from Spotify last week, asserting in a since-deleted open letter to his management that content like the Joe Rogan Experience podcast “spread[s] false information about vaccines”.The streaming platform obliged, confirming on Wednesday (January 26) that Young’s content would indeed be removed from the platform.The saga drew mixed reactions from the wider music industry, while many seemed to side with Young, including Joni Mitchell who also announced she would be pulling her discography from Spotify over its conduct surrounding vaccine misinformation, as did Crazy Horse and E Street Band guitarist Nils Lofgren.Nash, Young’s longtime friend and CSNY bandmate, has now followed suit, issuing a statement to Rolling Stone in which he revealed he has requested his solo material be removed from Spotify.“Having heard the Covid disinformation spread by Joe Rogan on Spotify, I completely agree with and support my friend Neil Young and I am requesting that my solo recordings be removed from the service,” Nash began his statement.“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 as not only false but dangerous,” he continued.“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 public opinion.“The opinions publicized by Rogan are so dishonest and unsupported

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.

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.

Nils Lofgren is the latest artist to pull his music from Spotify to boycott COVID-19 misinformation on the platform.

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 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.

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.

James Blunt has threatened to release new music on Spotify in protest against Joe Rogan’s podcast, which is an exclusive on the platform.Earlier this week, Neil Young had his music removed from Spotify after writing an open letter that said the Joe Rogan Experience was “spreading false information about vaccines”.“They can have Rogan or Young. Not both,” the musician wrote.