Neil Young was once a famous rock star. That was a long time ago.
The Canadian native was twice inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and ranked No. 34 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 greatest musical artists.
Joe Rogan hosts the top-rated podcast globally, The Joe Rogan Experience, and recently signed a $100 million deal with Spotify that gave them exclusivity to Rogan’s show.
Well, Young is now 76-years old, and instead of writing songs in this later stage of his life, he’s sitting at home, composing letters instead, and the one he fired off to Spotify essentially gave them an option.
When it comes to Joe Rogan, it’s either him or me.
In an open letter to his manager and record label, Young said, “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”
Alrighty then. In the letter that has since been deleted, Young is upset that Rogan has spoken about his beliefs in COVID vaccines.
Young went spend some time on the internet doing research and came out guns a-blazing. Even though the rock and roll legend is not a medical doctor, and there’s no evidence he actually has listened to episodes of the JRE, he came down hard with his threat to Spotify.
“With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE [Joe Rogan Experience], 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.
“I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform … They can 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.”
The open letter was addressed to Frank Gironda, his manager, and Warner Records.
Young has had beef with Spotify in the past. In 2015, he removed most of his music over “sound quality issues.” He came back in 2016.
Young may have neglected to check on one minor issue before his rant. He sold 50% of his music catalog to a UK Investment fund, and he might not have the authority to tell what streamers can or cannot play his music.
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