Neil Young's music is back on Spotify… kind of

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.

Taking a stand. Amid the controversy surrounding Spotify’s support of comedian Joe Rogan and his podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” many stars have decided to pull their content from the streaming service in protest.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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'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.

Video: Joe Rogan continues to ignore covid science even as he reads it out loud (The Independent)Fight Club trailerDakota Johnson and Chris Martin make an appearance at Sundance Film Festival 2022Video released of police using force and Taser on NBA player Jaxson Hayes during arrestFBI: Brian Laundrie Admitted To Killing Gabby Petito In Notebook'No further danger': German police speaks on Heidelberg university shootingMerrill Lynch executive arrested after racist smoothie shop tiradeGermany: Lone gunman dead after mass shooting at universitySupporters display 'Trump 2024' signs ahead of Florida rallyMusician describes trip on cruise ship diverted to Bahamas to avoid US arrest warrantSophie Turner and Joe Jonas appear to marry in surprise Vegas ceremonyCOVID issues in the cruise industryPrince Harry could return to UK for Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum JubileeSupreme Court Judtice Clarence Thomas criticised for conflict of interestVirginia parent threatens school board with armed response over mask mandateOmicron: Are we turning a corner?Officials using cinnamon buns to lure bear that attacked Daytona Beach manYoung reportedly requested his content be removed from Spotify due to its hosting of the Joe Rogan podcast, which has been known to air vaccine-sceptical views. Mitchell said online that she stood “in solidarity” with Young and the medical communities against “irresponsible people” who were spreading lies on the platform and “costing people their lives”.

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.