Neil Young vs. Spotify: Singer Seeks Split With Service Over Joe Rogan, Vaccine Misinformation

A group of 270 medical experts and scientists released an open letter to Spotify last month complaining about the anti-vax views and misinformation on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Now, Neil Young has given the platform an ultimatum: his music, or Rogan.

In a since-deleted letter sent by Young to his manager and record label, parts of which were published by Rolling Stone, the singer accused Spotify of “spreading fake information about vaccines — potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them.”

Young asked his management team to “act on this immediately" and to keep him informed. He also gave them an ultimatum, writing, “I want all my music off [Spotify’s] platform. They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young. Not both.”

As of 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Young’s music was still listed on Spotify where he remains as an artist. His most popular song with his 6,057,481 monthly listeners is the 2009 remaster of “Heart of Gold.”

According to BBC, Spotify paid $100 million for the rights to Rogan’s popular podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” in 2020.

The streaming service has yet to publicly comment on the matter.

Rogan has a history of spreading misinformation on his show about COVID-19, its variants, and the vaccine, and has hosted guests that have made unproven claims. Sometimes, Rogan apologizes for these claims.

The letter from medical experts and scientists to Spotify came in response to Rogan’s controversial decision to host Dr. Robert Malone on his program. Malone, a virologist, has been banned from other platforms for spreading disinformation and misinformation about COVID-19, the vaccine, and for encouraging people to use Ivermectin.

"By allowing the propagation of false and societally harmful assertions, Spotify is enabling its hosted media to damage public trust in scientific research and sow doubt in the credibility of data-driven guidance offered by medical professionals," the letter read, in part.

“This is not only a scientific or medical concern; it is a sociological issue of devastating proportions and Spotify is responsible for allowing this activity to thrive on its platform,” the closing part of the letter read.