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Neil Young to return to Spotify, ending boycott over Joe Rogan

March 14, 2024

Neil Young is planning to return to Spotify, ending his boycott which began in 2022 over The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

At the time, Young criticised both the podcast for spreading vaccine misinformation, and Spotify for providing it a platform.

However, singer songwriter said the return to the streaming platform does not reflect a reversal of his opinion.

Rather, Young's return came after Rogan's latest $250 million ($406 million NZD) deal to make his podcast available across multiple platforms, instead of continuing to be exclusive to Spotify.

In a statement, Young said he could not leave all music platforms which now host the podcast.

"Other music services [including] Apple, Amazon, Qobuz, Tidal... have started serving the same disinformation podcast I had opposed at Spotify," Young said.

"Because I cannot leave all those services like I did Spotify, because my music would have no streaming outlet to music lovers at all, I have returned."

In January 2022, Young said 60% of his global streaming revenue came from Spotify.

He said it amounted for a "huge loss for [his] record company to absorb", but the music was removed as he could not "continue to support Spotify's life-threatening misinformation to the music loving public," BBC reported.

The Joe Rogan Experience is the most played-podcast on the platform. It features long form interview style shows which run for multiple hours.

It features a wide range of guests which include actors, comedians, musicians, scientists, and conspiracy theorists.

It has been a frequent source of controversy, with Rogan apologising for using racist language in early episodes in 2009, hosting controversial guests, and airing vaccine-sceptical views.

Rogan also promoted the use of ivermectin, an anti-parasite drug it was claimed could treat Covid-19.

Responding to Young's initial boycott, Rogan said in 2022 that he was only seeking to have conversations on his podcast with people who have "differing opinions."

"I'm not trying to promote misinformation, I'm not trying to be controversial," Rogan said. "I've never tried to do anything with this podcast other than to just talk to people."

Despite Young's return to Spotify, he continued to criticise the platform for not hosting lossless hi-fi quality audio to their users.

"[I have] sincere hopes that Spotify sound quality will improve and people will be able to hear and feel all the music as we made it," he wrote.

"Hopefully Spotify will return to Hi Res[olution] as the answer and serve all the music to everyone. Spotify, you can do it!"

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