SpExit! Joni Mitchell pulls all music from Spotify, joining Neil Young in shunning same online platform as disinformation opportunist Joe Rogan
SpExit picks up steam. Newsweek:
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.
[Mitchell] posted a brief statement on her website Friday saying that she would remove her music from the streaming service. “Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives,” she wrote. “I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.” Her statement adds fuel to a small but growing revolt over Spotify, with few major artists speaking out but fans commenting widely on social media. The debate has also brought into relief questions about how much power artists wield to control distribution of their work, and the perennially thorny issue of free speech online.
So it should come as no surprise that social media posts and message boards across the Internet are filled with messages from users saying that they have dropped Spotify altogether.
You can bet that the high mucky-mucks at Spotify are beginning to wonder whether throwing $100 million at exploitative man-baby Joe Rogan was such a brilliant idea in the first place.