Spotify says it will remove Neil Young's music, according to reports


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By Sandra Gonzalez and Scottie Andrew , CNN

Updated 8:08 AM ET, Thu January 27, 2022

Spotify agrees to take Neil Young's music off the platform Neil Young has drawn attention to environmental issues and climate change activism for most of his career spanning five decades, and in 2004 went on tour with 15 vehicles powered by fuel made partially from vegetable and soybean oil.

(CNN)Spotify will no longer stream the music of Neil Young. For what it's worth, he asked for it.

One day after the musician expressed in a now-deleted post on his official website that he no longer wanted his music on the platform over its relationship with divisive podcast host Joe Rogan's comments about Covid-19 vaccinations, the company says it honoring Young's request. "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 Washington Post in a statement . "We have detailed content policies in place and we've removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to covid-19 since the start of the pandemic. We regret Neil's decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon."

Scientists call out Spotify for misinformation on Joe Rogan's podcast

Scientists call out Spotify for misinformation on Joe Rogan's podcast 02:40 In his post, Young asked his managers and record label to remove his music from Spotify because he said the music and podcast platform is "spreading fake information about vaccines -- potentially causing death to those who believe this disinformation spread by them." (Rolling Stone originally reported the text of the post.)

"I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform," the 76-year-old said in Monday's post, according to Rolling Stone. "They can have Rogan or Young. Not both."

Read More On his podcast, Rogan has made frequent false and inaccurate claims surrounding vaccines and Covid-19. Earlier this month, a group of more than 250 scientists, doctors and nurses penned an open letter to Spotify condemning the streamer for platforming Rogan and calling on Spotify to warn its listeners about misinformation.

"The Joe Rogan Experience" was Spotify's most popular podcast globally in 2021, according to Variety. It became a Spotify exclusive in 2020, when Rogan signed a multi-year exclusive licensing deal with the streaming servic.

CNN has reached out to Young's manager, his publicist at Warner Records and Spotify for comment.



Spotify will add a 'content advisory' to COVID-19 podcast episodes


Joe Rogan American martial artist, podcaster, sports commentator and comedian *

Daniel Ek Swedish CEO and founder of Spotify

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Following days of controversy stemming from Spotify's handling of allegations that Joe Rogan has used the platform to spread COVID-19 misinformation, the company said on Sunday it would take new measures to point its users to accurate information about the pandemic. In a blog post attributed to CEO Daniel Ek, the company admitted it hasn't been transparent enough about its content policy, but stopped short of detailing any specific action against Rogan.

Sometime in the next few days, Spotify says it will add a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes a discussion about COVID-19. That advisory will direct listeners to the company's COVID-19 Hub . In its current iteration, the page includes links to podcasts from the /BBC/, /ABC News/ and /Foreign Policy/. "To our knowledge, this content advisory is the first of its kind by a major podcast platform," according to Ek. However, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have employed similar measures.

Spotify has also pledged to publicly share its content guidelines. As of today, you can read them through the company's Newsroom website . In the future, they'll also be accessible through Spotify's main website, and the company has promised to translate them into a variety of other languages. Lastly, the company says it plans to start testing ways to highlight its content guidelines in the tools it offers to podcast producers and other creators.

"We know we have a critical role to play in supporting creator expression while balancing it with the safety of our users," Ek said. "In that role, it is important to me that we don't take on the position of being content censor while also making sure that there are rules in place and consequences for those who violate them."

The action comes after musicians Neil Young and Joni Mitchell pulled their music from the streaming platform in protest of its handling of Rogan's podcast and misinformation more broadly. Earlier today, author Brené Brown said she would not release any new episodes of her Spotify-exclusive podcast "until further notice."

After Young first pulled his catalog from the platform, the company defended its record against misinformation by claiming it had removed 20,000 COVID-related episodes since the start of the pandemic. However, as part of that sweep, Spotify appears to have not removed any episodes of the /Joe Rogan Experience/. For instance, you can still listen to the controversial episode where Dr. Robert Malone falsely claims "mass formation psychosis" has led people to believe vaccines are effective against COVID-19. /The Verge/ / /subsequently/ /published the company's COVID-19 content guidelines . In an internal memo, Spotify said Rogan's content did not "meet the threshold for removal."

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