Eve 6 has been crusading against Spotify for years, even going so far as encouraging fans to torrent their “heart in a blender song” rather than listen to it through the streaming service. Over on Twitter, the band’s frontman Max Collins has regularly campaigned for Spotify users to put pressure on the company in regards to its payment policies for artists. In a recent Twitter post, Collins and the band quipped that it’s “far more ethical” to steal music than to use Spotify.
They then assured fans that the band gives “full permission to torrent” their music, specifically “the heart in a blender song.” While Eve 6, and Collins, have long championed for Spotify to change its approach to artist pay rates, the new tweet comes after a controversy surrounding the company, iconic folk/rock artist Neil Young, and Joe Rogan’s podcast. Young publicly stated that he would pull his music from the service if they didn’t remove Rogan’s podcast, which Young opposes due to concerns of social and political misinformation. Spotify refused to remove Rogan’s podcast, resulting in Young’s music being removed.
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In an open letter on his website, Young wrote, “Spotify has recently become a very damaging force via its public misinformation and lies about COVID. Most of the listeners hearing the unfactual, misleading and false COVID information on Spotify are 24 years old, impressionable and easy to swing to the wrong side of the truth.” He later added in a follow-up letter, “I support free speech. I have never been in favor of censorship.”
Young continued, “Private companies have the right to choose what they profit from, just as I can choose not to have my music support a platform that disseminates harmful information. I am happy and proud to stand in solidarity with the front line health care workers who risk their lives every day to help others.” Notably, many other music artists have followed Young in his Spotify exit, including Joni Mitchell and India.Arie.
Regarding the controversial situation, Collins spoke with the Washington Post and offered some specific thoughts. “People are finally blasting an interrogation lamp on Spotify,” the Eve 6 bassist and singer said. “It’s my hope that whatever side of the culture war, the Rogan-Neil Young thing, a person may land, that people can be sympathetic to the struggle of working artists trying to get fair pay.”
