Neil Young debunks conspiracy theory about his Spotify protest, admits a mistake of his own

Reuters said he has not "returned," as claimed. Instead, the only Neil Young music on Spotify is from movie soundtracks or other events that featured him but were released by other entities.

Neil Young has spoken out over a developing conspiracy theory that his music publishing is overseen by pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer – the company behind one of the most widely-used COVID-19 vaccines.In a since-deleted letter posted to his Neil Young Archives website (as transcribed by Stereogum), Young addressed the circulated belief his views on vaccines were dictated to him by Pfizer – who, according to the conspiracy theory, own Young’s music publishing.The misunderstanding stems from the fact that a former CEO at Pfizer now serves as a senior advisor for asset manager Blackstone, which currently has a partnership with music publisher Hipgnosis – with whom Young presently works.Young described the conspiracy theory as “clever but wrong” in the letter, while also quipping “so much for Pharm Aid” – a reference to both the common conspiracy theory trope of “big pharma” and his own charity Farm Aid.“The publishing share Hipgnosis has in my copyrights is in the Hipgnosis Songs Fund, that is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange,” Young explained.“The Blackstone investment went into a separate Hipgnosis Private Fund, and none of that money was used for the Hipgnosis Songs Fund. Pfizer has not invested in Hipgnosis, but a past Pfizer CEO is a senior advisor for Blackstone.” The conspiracy theory is part of an ongoing conservative backlash against Young – most recently expressed by right-wing American rock musician Ted Nugent, who described Young as a “stoner birdbrain punk” for his recent protest against Spotify and Joe Rogan.Young removed his catalogue of albums from Spotify last month to protest the platform having Rogan’s podcast The Joe Rogan Experience as an exclusive to the service.

As if things weren’t bad enough for the people working at Spotify following all the recent controversies around the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, now they’ve got Ted Nugent coming to their defence – and via the daily podcast he records for the pro-hunting lobby group he advises and represents. Lovely stuff.On Friday night’s edition of the ‘The Nightly Nuge’ podcast, Nugent’s co-host Keith Mark brought up how that Canadian Neil Young is again talking politics in the USA, before musing how a musician that has in the past spoken up for free speech is now pro-censorship.Which isn’t true, of course, but it was Young who instigated the artist boycott of Spotify over the COVID misinformation contained in Rogan’s Spotify exclusive podcast.Young and other artists who have spoken out about the controversial COVID conversations that have occurred on Rogan’s programme insist that they are not calling for censorship.However, they argue, platforms like Spotify have a responsibility to counter misleading information that could negatively impact on people’s health, and they’d rather not be associated with any platforms that aren’t fulfilling that responsibility.Asked what he makes of Young and his Spotify boycott, Nugent initially said some nice things about his fellow musician, but then added “the guy is a complete punk”.

Ted Nugent has weighed in on the recent controversy surrounding Spotify and Neil Young‘s decision to pull his music from the platform.Young last month demanded that his music be removed from Spotify, 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, later confirming 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 Young’s former bandmates Crosby, Stills & Nash, comedian Stewart Lee, Crazy Horse and E Street Band guitarist Nils Lofgren, and cult alternative rockers Failure, among others.Now, controversial right-wing rocker Ted Nugent has spoken out about Young’s decision, calling the ‘Harvest Moon’ singer-songwriter “a complete punk”.Speaking on his ‘Friday Free For All’ edition of The Nightly Nuge on Friday (February 11), he said: “Well, Neil Young, God bless him. I’m sure that there’s many people that appreciate Neil Young’s creativity and his talents and his creation of wonderful music for those people who love that kind of music.

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.

Spotify over their alleged support of vaccine misinformation, Neil Young has encouraged workers at Spotify – as well as fellow musicians – to step away from the streaming giant.“In our communication age, misinformation is the problem,” he wrote in a statement to his website yesterday (February 7). “Ditch the misinformers. Find a good clean place to support with your monthly checks.

Zack Sharf Neil Young has urged Spotify employees to quit the company in the wake of the fallout involving Joe Rogan, which has spiraled from the podcaster’s use of his platform to air Covid-19 misinformation to his earlier, frequent use of a racial slur on his show. Young is now targeting Spotify CEO Daniel Ek as the company’s chief problem.“To the musicians and creators in this world, I say this: You must be able to find a better place than Spotify to be the home of your art,” Young wrote in a post on his Neil Young Archives site.

wrote in a “Déjà Vu” statement.“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.”Young started the trend when he pulled his solo catalog from the streaming service last week in protest of “fake information about vaccines” being spread on the popular “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Joni Michell, a contemporary of the 60s supergroup, followed suit on the heels of Young’s announcement and Nash joined the chorus of musicians requesting to flee the service on Tuesday, calling on Spotify to be “responsible and accountable” for its content.The band’s request applies to music the band released both with and without sometimes-member Young, as well as solo releases from Crosby and Stills, according to a press release.Crosby tweeted last month that removing his catalog might be difficult because he sold his recorded music and publishing rights. Music from CSNY, CSN and Crosby, Nash and Stills was still on Spotify as of Thursday night.Rogan, who has a $100 million deal with the streaming service, addressed accusations on Sunday that his show promoted unsanctioned COVID-19 treatments and claimed that vaccinations were harmful to some.“I’m not trying to promote misinformation.

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.

Neil Young has offered fans free four-month subscriptions to Amazon Music as his Spotify row continues.Earlier this month, hundreds of scientists and medical professionals asked Spotify to address COVID misinformation on its platform, sparked by comments made on its original podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience.Young then pulled his music from the platform, sparking a protest against the misinformation being spread about the virus on Rogan’s Spotify original podcast. The likes of Joni Mitchell and Crazy Horse member Nils Lofgren then followed his decision.Taking to Twitter on Friday (January 28), Young plugged Amazon Music to his followers, offering them free access for four months.“Amazon has been leading the pack in bringing Hi-Res audio to the masses, and it’s a great place to enjoy my entire catalog in the highest quality available,” he wrote.“Thanks also to Apple Music (I LOVE APPLE) and Qobuz for sticking with my High Res music.”All folks looking for my music can easily head to AMAZON MUSIC and click here https://t.co/xvhKGMkA36 – all new listeners will get four months free.

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week. On this episode we’re discussing just one story that dominated the headlines over the last seven days – Neil Young’s protest against the Joe Rogan Experience podcast on Spotify.

Yesterday, Spotify removed Neil Young's music from the platform at the singer's request after Young shared an open letter criticizing the platform for spreading misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines via the popular podcast The Joe Rogan Experience. On Friday, Young shared a new statement on his website, saying that he "felt better" once his music was removed from the platform. Young's new statement focuses on his criticisms of Spotify's technology and business model.

Naman Ramachandran Joe Rogan has finally weighed in on the controversy swirling around his Spotify podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” saying, “I’m not trying to promote misinformation.”In a nearly 10-minute long video posted on his Instagram account on Sunday night, Rogan said, “I think there’s a lot of people that have a distorted perception of what I do, maybe based on sound bites or based on headlines of articles that are disparaging.” Defending his choice of Dr. Robert Malone and Dr.

Spotify due to COVID misinformation spread on his podcast.Earlier this 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”.The situation then made headline news last week, with Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Crazy Horse member Nils Lofgren have pulling their music from the platform after Young sparked a protest against the misinformation being spread about the virus on Rogan’s Spotify original podcast.In a new video clip posted to Instagram, Rogan addresses “some of the controversy that’s been going on over the past few days.”He told fans: “I don’t always get it right. I will do my best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people perspectives so we can maybe find a better point of view.Admitting that it is a “strange responsibility to have this many views and listeners,” he promised “to do my best in the future to balance things out.”Of Neil Young and Joni Mitchell’s departure from Spotify, Rogan added: “I’m very sorry that they feel that way.

Spotify is adding COVID-19 content advisories to all relevant podcast episodes, the streaming company has announced in a new statement.Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Crazy Horse member Nils Lofgren have pulled their music from the platform after Young sparked a protest against the misinformation being spread about the virus on Joe Rogan’s Spotify podcast.Now, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has responded in an official statement that sets out the company’s plan to tackle the spread of misinformation on its site. The main proponent of that plan involves adding content advisories to every podcast episode that discusses coronavirus.“This advisory will direct listeners to our dedicated COVID-19 Hub, a resource that provides easy access to data-driven facts, up-to-date information as shared by scientists, physicians, academics and public health authorities around the world, as well as links to trusted sources,” the statement said.“This new effort to combat misinformation will roll out to countries around the world in the coming days.

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.

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.

will follow Neil Young’s lead and pull her music from Spotify over COVID-misinformation concerns.The two music giants decided to abandon the streaming service in protest of it’s prized podcaster Joe Rogan, who they’ve accused of spreading fake information about COVID vaccines.“I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify,” Mitchell, 78, said in a statement posted to her website on Friday. “Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives.”Mitchell, whose career spans six decades, was awarded the Grammy lifetime achievement award in 2002 and was named a Kennedy Center honoree in 2021.Her Canadian compatriot, Young, earlier this week gave Spotify an ultimatum in a since-deleted letter on his website that read: “They can have Neil Young or Rogan.

coronavirus.Mitchell, who like Young is a California-based songwriter who had much of her success in the 1970s, is the first prominent musician to join Young's effort.“Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives,” Mitchell said Friday in a message posted on her website. “I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.”Following Young's action this week, Spotify said it had policies in place to remove misleading content from its platform and has removed more than 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.But the service has said nothing about comedian Joe Rogan, whose podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” is the centerpiece of the controversy.

Joni Mitchell has declared her support for Neil Young, announcing plans to remove her discography from Spotify in protest of the service platforming misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine.Young demanded that his music be pulled from Spotify at the start of the 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”. Spotify obliged, confirming on Wednesday (January 26) that Young’s content would indeed be removed from the platform.The saga drew mixed reception from the wider music industry – the widow of Gang Of Four‘s Andy Gill criticised Spotify for keeping Rogan’s podcast on the platform, for example, while Disturbed frontman Dave Draiman applauded Spotify for “not capitulating to the mob”.