#SpotifyDeleted

I first heard of this when my cousin mentioned that Neil Young was pulling his music from Spotify. I jokingly said, “Who’s Neil Young? I only listen to good music.” The conversation passed and I didn’t think about it again. Days later, I ran into a thread on Twitter. #spotifydeleted was mentioned many times as Baby Boomers and Gen Y celebrated that they had deleted their Spotify accounts to support Neil Young. The people posting to the thread were serious, and some small artists said they would pull their music too. The resistant posters echoed cries of “freedom of speech.” My curiosity was piqued. 

Neil Young, 76, wrote a letter to his manager and record label, giving Spotify an ultimatum. They would either remove “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast from their platform or Young would pull all his music. Spotify did not honor his request, so Young pulled his music. He is pushing his fans to move to Amazon Music because Amazon aligns with his morals. Young’s stand for censorship pushed Joni Mitchell and Nils Lofgren, two of his friends in the music industry, to pull their music as well.

You probably have heard about Joe Rogan and his podcast. He has been a stand-up comedian for 20 years, provided colorful commentary for martial arts championships and now hosts “The Joe Rogan Experience,” a Spotify-exclusive podcast. He calls it a “long-form conversation ... with friends and guests.” Some of those guests included people who were not factual in their opinions, specifically on the topic of the pandemic and vaccination.

On Jan. 31, Joe Rogan posted a video explaining the purpose of his podcast. He brought on two people with opinions that resulted in the episodes being labeled as “having dangerous misinformation.” Joe Rogan claims to make no mistakes. He brings people with differing opinions to his show to have conversations. Many of the guest speakers have been professionals that agree with the mainstream, but they have been lost in the narrative.

In regards to this crisis, Spotify has chosen to change the censorship policies. In their official statement, CEO Daniel Ek stated the brand “hasn’t been transparent about the policies that guide their content.” To change this, content warning labels will be displayed with podcast episodes that have been flagged as misinformation. Joe Rogan supports this choice, and he stated that he will work to balance the guest speakers and misinformation to avoid misleading his listeners.

I will not be deleting my Spotify account. Not only is it the best streaming service according to statistics, I do not believe that Spotify is in the wrong in this situation. I appreciate the steps they are taking to correct misinformation rather than choosing the route of censorship. Or, in fewer words, if you don’t like it, don’t listen to it. People who want to hear misinformation will find it, regardless of censorship.

By Annelise Jacobs