Canadian singer Joni Mitchell takes her music from Spotify, following Neil Young. She does so because of misinformation about the coronavirus that would be spread via the platform.
The 78-year-old Mitchell says on her website to support Neil Young. “I’ve decided to take all my music off Spotify. Irresponsible people are spreading lies that cost lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the worldwide scientific and medical communities on this.”
She is agitating against the American presenter and comedian Joe Rogan, who is on Spotify. Young previously announced that he did not want to be on the same platform as the presenter. In his podcast, The Joe Rogan ExperienceRogan repeatedly questioned the effectiveness of vaccines and promoted ivermectin, a drug against parasites, for the treatment of Covid-19.
Mitchell refers to medics
Although she does not name Rogan in her response, Mitchell does refer to a document signed by 270 doctors and scientists in which scientists call on Spotify to remove an episode of Rogan’s podcast in which he believes he is spreading disinformation about corona.
Spotify closed a deal with Rogan in 2020, so that his podcast can only be heard and seen there. According to American media, the streaming platform paid more than 100 million dollars (more than 89 million euros) for this.
Deleted
Spotify said in a response to Neil Young’s decision that it has already removed more than 20,000 episodes of podcasts discussing coronavirus and hoped Young would come back from his decision.
Joni Mitchell is known for the songs Big Yellow Taxi and A Case Of You. She has almost 4 million listeners on Spotify every month.
