Mumford & Sons member Winston Marshall has written a piece for Bari Weiss’ Substack criticising artists taking action against Spotify.In the essay entitled ‘When Artists Become the Censors’, Marshall takes aim at those he believes are threatening free speech, including Neil Young, who recently pulled his music from Spotify.On January 24, Young published an open letter – which has since been deleted – expressing his feelings about content like the Joe Rogan Experience podcast “spreading false information about vaccines”.
This sparked a wider protest, with the likes of Joni Mitchell and Crazy Horse member Nils Lofgren following suit.“Something resembling a bottom-up authoritarianism has become the norm,” Marshall writes in the essay. “Or perhaps one could call it lateral censorship.
It’s artists shutting down other artists—or trying to.”Winston Marshall goes on to note: “Spotify is a private company; they’re under no obligation to platform anybody.
So while this campaign doesn’t breach Rogan’s First Amendment rights, it is a clear stand against the cultural norm of free speech.”When artists start censoring each other, who can be surprised that self-censorship becomes the norm?Me for @bariweiss’ Common Sense https://t.co/aGZ6F9ht3a— Winston Marshall (@MrWinMarshall) February 3, 2022Marshall’s argument then turns to those he believes are unfairly criticised for their views: “Those brave enough to peep over the parapet—think of Kanye on Trump or J.K.
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