Joni Mitchell wants songs off Spotify in Covid row

Music Music: In The News
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Singer Joni Mitchell has joined Neil Young in asking for her music to be removed from Spotify over Covid misinformation concerns. “Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives,” the Canadian singer said in a post on her official website.

Neil Young and Joni Mitchell have been friends for many years, and are both survivors of polio. They both contracted the disease in the early 1950s, not long before a vaccine became available.

On Monday, Young said the streaming platform must choose either him, or the podcaster Joe Rogan. Rogan has been accused of spreading false information about Covid.

In her message on Friday, Mitchell, whose hits include Big Yellow Taxi, said she stands in solidarity with the Canadian-American singer, Neil Young, and with the “global scientific and medical communities”.

Neil Young and Joni Mitchell have been friends for many years, and are both survivors of polio. They both contracted the disease in the early 1950s, not long before a vaccine became available.

Unlike Young, Mitchell did not specifically name Mr Rogan in her post.

However, she did include a link to an open letter signed by a group of scientists and medical professionals, which criticised Spotify for hosting Rogan’s podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience. The letter accuses Rogan of spreading a range of misleading claims, and provoking distrust in science and medicine. It calls on Spotify to “take action against the mass-misinformation events which continue to occur on its platform”.

Neil Young, who is behind classic hits such as Harvest Moon and Heart of Gold, accused Spotify on Monday of “spreading fake information about vaccines - potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them”.

On Wednesday, Spotify agreed to remove his songs from the platform, and said it hoped he decides to return to the platform soon. It also defended its record in removing misinformation from the service. “We have detailed content policies in place and we’ve removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to Covid since the start of the pandemic.”

The Joe Rogan Experience is Spotify’s most popular podcast, with a reported 200 million downloads a month. The streaming platform is said to have paid $100m (£75m) for rights to it.

Good for Joni … :+1:

(… and glad to hear from her … :smiley:)

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Before I read this part, I was going to say, good luck with that. Rogan’s youtube channel is so popular that almost all the top political candidates for President in 2020 either went on his show or tried to get on his show.

Joni Mitchell and Neil Young boycotting isn’t going to make much of a difference.

I’m not a Joe Rogan fan, and he says some crazy stuff, but revenue-wise, I think it’s no contest.

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I don’t think Joni’s action is part of a contest or about money or about politics - IMO, she’s just being personally ethical and responsible.

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For those interested, a Joni update:

Mon 6 Dec 2021 12.32 GMT

Joni Mitchell addressed her health difficulties in a rare public speech as she accepted her Kennedy Center Honor, one of the most prestigious awards in American cultural life.

At a ceremony attended by Joe Biden – in a show of support for the arts after the awards were snubbed by Donald Trump – Mitchell discussed the issues she’s faced in the wake of an aneurysm in 2015 that left her temporarily unable to walk or talk.

“I always think that polio was a rehearsal for the rest of my life,” she said, referring to the disease she suffered aged nine. “I’ve had to come back several times from things. And this last one was a real whopper. But, you know, I’m hobbling along but I’m doing all right!”

She described the award as “a fantastic honour … enjoy yourselves, I’m gonna go back and sit down!”

Mitchell hasn’t released a studio album since 2007’s Shine, though two volumes of an ongoing archival project have been released in recent years.

Good to hear that she’s made progress after that appalling aneurysm … :clap:

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Seems pointless posturing. I doubt many had heard of Joe Rogan before this. I certainly had no clue. Now he will be all over the media. Well done.

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You’re not American, though, are you … :wink:

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Precisely, I have no idea why this is a top headline here. I couldn’t care less and don’t use spotify.

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Thank you for your contribution, anyway … :man_shrugging:

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Yup, sort of reminds me of when people on social media say they’re going to boycott something. If it makes them feel better, then whatever. But it’s not making any difference, IMO.

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They do this all the time, yet this is the top headline on the news. Bizarre. I don’t even like Joni Mitchell’s music.

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Does Joni want to make a difference or just express her feelings on the matter - only Joni knows … :man_shrugging:

Of course, I could make a guess … :wink:

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OK, but it’s my opinion since you posted this thread, that she didn’t make a difference.

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Well, if she wasn’t trying to make a difference then she succeeded.

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OK, well done then. I guess. Taking an action to not make a difference. :woman_shrugging:

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she is now saying it’s nothing to do with Joe Rogan… so what’s it about?

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Indeed … you’ve grasped it … :+1:

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Well, she said she was doing it in solidarity to Neil Young, who pulled his catalog from Spotify and has now moved it to Amazon Music. Since Amazon Music also hosts Joe Rogan’s podcast, hard to know what it’s about.

As far as I can tell, Joe Rogan’s podcast is on Amazon Music, so :102:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=joe+rogan+podcast&i=digital-music&crid=16G2XIEUF9MZN&sprefix=joe+rogan+%2Cdigital-music%2C159&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_10

And now Neil Young is saying that he’s not trying to censor Joe Rogan, and it has something to do with the poor quality of Spotify. It’s a muddled message.

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Well, that’s made it as clear as mud … :rofl:

I’ll add:

The Joe Rogan Experience
In 2020, Spotify received criticism from anti-misinformation groups when conspiracy theorist Alex Jones appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. Spotify’s employees raised concerns about Jones’ appearance on the show. In 2021, Spotify removed 42 Joe Rogan podcast episodes.

In January 2022, 270 scientists, physicians, professors, doctors, and healthcare workers wrote an open letter to Spotify expressing concern over “false and societally harmful assertions” on The Joe Rogan Experience and asked Spotify to “establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform”. The 270 signatories objected to Rogan broadcasting COVID-19 misinformation, citing “a highly controversial” episode featuring guest Dr. Robert Malone (#1757). The episode has been criticized for “promoting baseless conspiracy theories”, including “an unfounded theory that societal leaders have ‘hypnotized’ the public.” The signatories further assert that “Dr. Malone is one of two recent JRE guests who has compared pandemic policies to the Holocaust. These actions are not only objectionable and offensive, but also medically and culturally dangerous.” The signatories also note that Malone was suspended from Twitter for spreading misinformation about COVID-19.

In January 2022, Neil Young removed his music from Spotify after they refused to remove the podcast. Joni Mitchell subsequently removed her music in support of Young.

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It all sounds dull as dishwater. I think they just like playing Big Yellow taxi on the news.

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You’re displaying an extraordinary interest in something in which you expressed a complete lack of interest … :017: