Spotify Users Are Standing With Neil Young and Cancelling Their Subscriptions

Neil Young fans are canceling their Spotify subscriptions in light of the company removing Young's music on the platform. The musician launched a campaign against Spotify earlier this week, calling out the company for its support of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast and the spread of "disinformation." 

Young, who's been vocal regarding his stance on the spread of false vaccine information amid the COVID-19 pandemic, gave the company an ultimatum in an open letter shared on his website, telling Spotify it can either "have Rogan or Young. Not both." "I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them," Young wrote, reports Rolling Stone. "Please act on this immediately today and keep me informed of the time schedule." The full statement has since been deleted from his site. 

Spotify's exclusive deal with Joe Rogan, which is worth $100 million, is a hard business partnership to walk away from. In response to Young's letter, the company decided to take down the "Heart of Gold" singer's discography. "We want all the world's music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators," a Spotify spokesman told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. "We regret Neil's decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon." 

The company has spoken out against claims that it spreads misinformation and has taken steps in the past to remove false information including removing musician Ian Brown's song against vaccines and Pete Evans' podcast. "Spotify prohibits content on the platform which promotes dangerous false, deceptive, or misleading content about COVID-19 that may cause offline harm and/or pose a direct threat to public health," Spotify told Business Insider once Evans' podcast was removed. "When content that violates this standard is identified it is removed from the platform."