Music streaming platform Spotify appears to have lost another artist as Joni Mitchell came out in solidarity with Neil Young on Friday and said she would remove her music from the service.
The 78-year-old announced the decision on her website as Spotify has removed Young's music on Wednesday after the 76-year-old singer told the platform to choose between him and podcaster Joe Rogan.
Mitchell is most famous for her hits in the 1970s but has remained popular with her Spotify page noting that she has 3.7 million listeners per month. Her move makes her the first prominent artist to join Young in his dispute with the streaming service.
A statement posted to Mitchell's website on Friday said: "I Stand With Neil Young!"
"I've decided to remove all my music from Spotify. Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives," the statement said.
"I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue," it said.
The statement was attributed to Mitchell herself and linked to an open letter to Spotify calling for the platform to implement "a misinformation policy." That letter was signed by 270 medical professionals and referred to a "highly controversial episode" of the the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) that had been criticized for "promoting baseless conspiracy theories."
Mitchell is known for her songs "Big Yellow Taxi" and "A Case of You", both of which have been streamed more than 100 million times on Spotify.
Young's decision to pull his music from Spotify was motivated in part by its hosting of the Joe Rogan Experience. In an open letter to his manager and record label, Young singled out Rogan.
"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. Please act on this immediately today and keep me informed of the time schedule," Young's letter said.
"With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE, which is hosted exclusively on Spotify, is the world's largest podcast and has tremendous influence," Young wrote.
"Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy," he said.
Rogan's podcast is the most popular on Spotify and one of the most listened-to podcasts in the world. Rogan has contract with the streaming platform that could reportedly earn him $100 million.
Young later said he "felt better" after having his music removed from Spotify and criticized what he called its "degraded and neutered" sound quality. He also encouraged listeners to switch to other platforms such as Amazon, Apple and Qobuz.
Spotify pulled the plug on its customer service "live" support on Wednesday as it was apparently flooded with complaints.
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
Darragh Roche is a U.S. News Reporter based in Limerick, Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. politics. He has ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
