Neil Young has urged Spotify employees to quit their jobs before the streaming platform "eats up" their souls.
Young urged the company's workers to jump ship in a message posted to his website on Monday. Two weeks earlier, Young demanded that his music be removed from the platform in protest of podcast host Joe Rogan spreading "misinformation" about the COVID-19 vaccines.
Young encouraged musicians and content creators to "find a better place than SPOTIFY to be the home of your art" but reserved his strongest plea to those employed by Spotify. He specifically targeted company co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek, insisting that he "pulls the strings" of Rogan.
"To the workers at SPOTIFY, I say Daniel Ek is your big problem – not Joe Rogan," Young wrote on Monday. "Ek pulls the strings. Get out of that place before it eats up your soul. The only goals stated by EK are about numbers – not art, not creativity."
"Notice that EK never mentions the Medical Professionals who started this conversation," he continued. "Look, one last time – at the statements EK has made. Then be free and take the good path."
Spotify agreed to remove Young's music on January 26. In the days that followed, artists including Joni Mitchell and India Arie echoed Young in demanding their work be removed from the platform.
The controversy over Rogan significantly increased last week after Arie shared a viral video showing the podcast host repeatedly using the uncensored n-word.
Rogan issued an apology video on Saturday, explaining that his "regretful and shameful" quotes were taken "out of context" and that he had not used the word explicitly "in years."
After uproar increased over Rogan's use of the slur, Spotify removed 70 episodes of his popular Joe Rogan Experience podcast. In a memo to employees on Sunday, Ek wrote that Rogan's remarks were "incredibly hurtful" and did "not represent the values" of Spotify.
However, Ek also made it clear that Rogan would not be removed from the platform entirely, reasoning that "canceling voices is a slippery slope" and he did "not believe that silencing Joe is the answer."
Instead of taking action against Rogan, Ek wrote that the company would be committing to "an incremental investment of $100 million for the licensing, development, and marketing of music (artists and songwriters) and audio content from historically marginalized groups."
Spotify responded to the controversy about COVID-19 misinformation by pledging to add a warning label to all podcasts that discuss the topic, alongside a link to a fact-based repository of information on the virus and vaccines.
While certain episodes of the podcast were seemingly removed due to the n-word controversy, some of the most controversial episodes containing COVID-19 misinformation remain online, including a December 31, 2021, episode featuring Dr. Robert Malone.
On January 10, a group of 270 doctors, nurses, scientists and educators urged Spotify to remove the episode over misinformation spread by Malone—a scientist who authored an important early paper on mRNA technology but had no involvement in developing any of the available vaccines.
Young's message on Monday also urged his fellow baby boomers to withdraw their money from four major U.S. banks over climate change concerns. The 76-year-old musician warned those in his generation to take "money away from the damage causers or you will unintentionally be one of them."
Newsweek reached out to Spotify for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
