Singer Neil Young gave Spotify an ultimatum and the platform is sticking with Joe Rogan.
Back in May 2020, Rogan signed a massive $100 million deal with Spotify. This deal gave the popular audio streaming platform exclusive rights to the live stream of The Joe Rogan Experience. It was a home run deal for Joe but of course, he has his detractors due to being outspoken about certain topics.
Joe Rogan Stays, Neil Young Out
Neil Young posted a now-deleted open letter to Spotify. Young, who had over 6 million listeners per month on the platform, threatened to pull his music from Spotify if Joe Rogan wasn’t taken off.
“I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform. They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young. Not both.
“With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE, which is hosted exclusively on Spotify, is the world’s largest podcast and has tremendous influence. Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy.”
It’s clear that Spotify has sided with Rogan as Neil has removed his music from the audio streaming service.
Young’s issue with Rogan stems from his podcast. The singer insists that Rogan, who is a comedian and a color commentator for the UFC, has been spreading lies just to make money and that Spotify has the blinders on. This is in relation to his coverage of COVID-19.
Many have labeled Rogan as a conspiracy theorist who is spreading misinformation about vaccines. A medical coalition has even sent an open letter urging Spotify to hold Rogan accountable.
