Joni Mitchell says she’ll remove catalogue from Spotify “in solidarity with Neil Young”

nme.com:

Joni Mitchell has declared her support for Neil Young, announcing plans to remove her discography from Spotify in protest of the service platforming misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine.Young demanded that his music be pulled from Spotify at the start of the week, asserting in a since-deleted open letter to his management that content like the Joe Rogan Experience podcast “spread[s] false information about vaccines”.

Spotify obliged, confirming on Wednesday (January 26) that Young’s content would indeed be removed from the platform.The saga drew mixed reception from the wider music industry – the widow of Gang Of Four‘s Andy Gill criticised Spotify for keeping Rogan’s podcast on the platform, for example, while Disturbed frontman Dave Draiman applauded Spotify for “not capitulating to the mob”.

Most seemed to side with Young, however, with rival platforms Apple Music and Tidal both voicing support for the legendary folk-rocker.Mitchell has now joined the cohort of acts standing in solidarity with Young, sharing in a statement to her website that she, too, would be ditching Spotify over its conduct surrounding vaccine misinformation.

While she stopped short of naming Rogan – who has a $100million exclusivity contract with Spotify – she did share a link to the open letter signed by hundreds of scientists and medical professionals hitting out at Rogan’s podcast.“I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify,” Mitchell wrote yesterday (January 28). “Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives.