This is hilarious. Neil Young tried to pick a fight with Spotify over Joe Rogan—and he lost. It wasn’t really a fight. The streaming service quickly cut ties with Young who demanded that all his music be removed because Joe Rogan is a bad, bad man or something. It was really over the podcaster’s remarks about COVID that the Left has branded misinformation because Rogan is no pro-stab everyone with a needle (via WSJ):
Spotify Technology SA has removed Neil Young’s music, the company confirmed Wednesday, as the folk-rock star isn’t wavering in his objections to Joe Rogan’s podcast.
The “Heart of Gold” and “Harvest Moon” singer earlier this week penned an open letter to his manager and label asking them to remove his music from the service, saying it is spreading fake information about Covid-19 vaccines through Mr. Rogan’s show. “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both,” he wrote.
[…]
For Spotify, the controversy is a significant test of its big bet on Mr. Rogan, one of podcasting’s most popular and polarizing voices. Spotify struck a deal with Mr. Rogan in 2020 worth more than $100 million, according to people familiar with the matter, bringing his loyal followers and lucrative show exclusively to its service. Mr. Rogan is central to Spotify’s podcast strategy in attracting listeners and ad dollars to its platform and shows.
While the letter has since been removed from Mr. Young’s website, he has been in discussions with his label and Spotify since then, and continued to hold his ground, according to people familiar with the matter.
Mr. Rogan didn’t respond to a request for comment.
On Wednesday, Neil Young took more jabs at Spotify on his website, calling on others to join him in removing music from Spotify. “I sincerely hope that other artists and record companies will move off the Spotify platform and stop supporting Spotify’s deadly misinformation about Covid,” he wrote but added that he “can’t really expect that to happen.”
Spotify represents 60% of the streaming of his music to listeners, Mr. Young wrote, and pointed listeners to where his music is still available to stream, including Apple Music, Amazon Music and Qobuz, a high-res music streamer. Mr. Young also thanked his label for supporting him in his wishes to leave Spotify.
Did ANYONE think Neil Young was gonna win this thing?
— Larry O'Connor (@LarryOConnor) January 26, 2022
Another @joerogan victory https://t.co/GOXDyjzNF3
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) January 26, 2022
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) January 27, 2022
— McMurphy Memes (@mcmurphy_pat) January 26, 2022
https://t.co/gP1fmMrACK pic.twitter.com/eRPckh5YDS
— The Right To Bear Memes (@grandoldmemes) January 26, 2022
That’s a gamble for sure, Mr. Young. Also, maybe this should have clued you in that Spotify doesn’t need you. You can be jettisoned, and they will still thrive. Other artists aren’t going to follow suit because they’re not in the same position as you where you can cannibalize 60 percent of your income to satisfy the woke mob. That’s not being brave. That’s pure idiocy but see you later man. This will be forgotten soon as Russia seemed primed to invade Ukraine. If it’s not that, then it’ll be the rising inflation, the empty grocery stores, the supply chain crisis, and literally anything else.
Months ago, Rogan had CNN’s Sanjay Gupta on his show where the chief medical correspondent agreed that his network smeared Rogan who took doctor-prescribed ivermectin to deal with symptoms of COVID after contracting the virus. Rogan isn’t even a hardcore conservative either, but he doesn’t bow to the rules of the Left on everything, and that independence threatens the whole system.