Spotify removes Neil Young

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Spotify has begun removing music by Neil Young after the rock star called for the streaming platform to choose between him and podcaster Joe Rogan:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-60149951

Just had a look and most of his stuff has gone. WTF.

stickyfiddle

I mean.. of course they did. Joe Rogan will be bring 10x the revenue that Neil Young does, at least. And it makes the headline go away. If they did nothing it would keep running in the papers. If they removed Rogan they'd never hear the end of it from the neckbeards

I'm not defending JR (far from it - he's a dickhead) but from a business perspective it was always going to play out like this. 

wibble

I guess it's easier for Spotify to lose Neil Young than break the $100M contract with Joe Rogan?

I still don't understand the appeal of Joe Rogan but each to their own.

I don't use Spotify anyway even though it comes as part of my car's infotainment system I use Apple Music.

Hey Siri, play rocking in a free world

Tannin

From a business perspective, it is short-term stupidity of the highest order. By continuing to flog a scumbag that even You-tube has banned, Spotify is building up a huge weight of public enmity. Sooner or later, they will get regulated and pulled into line by legislative means, and they will pay and pay. In the meantime, Neil Young is just the first. He has called for others to do likewise, and very likely they will. 

Spotify, like Facebook, is hell-bent on sewing the seeds of its own destruction. 

mudslide73

It's all gone. Just a live album and stuff that's on compilations. Looks like I'll have to get my CD player out.

meltedbuzzbox

Tannin said:

From a business perspective, it is short-term stupidity of the highest order. By continuing to flog a scumbag that even You-tube has banned, Spotify is building up a huge weight of public enmity. Sooner or later, they will get regulated and pulled into line by legislative means, and they will pay and pay. In the meantime, Neil Young is just the first. He has called for others to do likewise, and very likely they will. 

Spotify, like Facebook, is hell-bent on sewing the seeds of its own destruction. 

Joe Rogan is still on YouTube. 
He made the jump to Spotify for money but also due to ever increasing censorship on the YouTube platform that he felt negatively impacted his show. 

I don't get why he is a scumbag. He may have a different opinion on things to other people but he is not outwardly evil is he?

We have prize tits like Boris Johnson and co making significantly more damage (to the UK) and constantly lying out of his arse whilst acting above the law. 

but yeah look this way, Joe Rogan is bad because he interviews several people that don't agree with the current political landscape

Funny how Russell Brand doesn't get highlighted for doing the same thing eh?

Keiko

Good luck policing 'covid mis-information' on the internet. Just the world we live in. Getting peoples attention is priority. Boring sensible and accurate information does not rake in the views as much as the stuff that "triggers" people.

Fwiw I've got rocking in the free world in one of my playlists and can still listen to it. Download your favourite stuff in case it gets taken down in future.

TTony

mudslide73 said:

It's all gone. Just a live album and stuff that's on compilations. Looks like I'll have to get my CD player out.

And there's the risk of relying on streaming services.

You don't control what the service choose to do.  Owning the physical media means you retain that control.

Philly_Q

I'm not a big Neil Young fan, although I do like some of his stuff, so in terms of availability of music this is only mildly annoying.

I'm more bothered that it sets a precedent.  I can't imagine anyone anticipated streaming services becoming politicised, such that people would want their content removed because of ideological opposition to someone else who's on there.

Here we all are, dumping our physical media because "everything's available online".  What if some of it just disappears, for reasons like this or something similar, and that's it, gone forever?

I know, most things are going to be available somewhere else, be it Apple, Amazon or wherever.  But that may not always be the case.  And anyway, who wants to subscribe to all of them?

monquixote

I think it's a bit of a minefield for Spotify. 

On the one hand it's just one artist, but I have Spotify because I can listen to whatever I want and as soon as that has holes in it I question the value of having the service. 

Interestingly Joe Rogan is on YouTube, but Neil Young hasn't asked to be removed from YT Music.

Joe Rogan is a difficult one. On the one hand he's a brilliant interviewer who gets really interesting stuff out of people and allows interviews to go on as long as they need to. His interview with James Hetfield where they mostly talked about beekeeping and hunting was fascinating. I also really like that he doesn't shy away from having controversial people on the show. I did agree with him on for example Rosanne that though she was totally out of order with the things she said, she should have some opportunity to do an interview and give her side of the story.
Where I think it falls down is that he lacks the rigour and intellect when he gets scientists or doctors on so if they start pedaling a conspiracy theory he ends up saying "Wow, that's interesting" rather than tearing flimsy arguments down. His view would be "Hear what they have to say and make your own mind up", but that's very hard for a lot of people to do and being on the show seems like an endorsement for potentially aberant views.

fretmeister

I saw Rogan allow a guest to get all Rothschildy / anti-Semitism without challenging the guest at all.

So he can get in the sea.

prowla

I don't use Spotify, I'm not a great fan of Neil Young (though 4-Way Street is a great album!), I don't do podcasts, and I've never heard of the Rogan bloke before today.

Overall, I think I'll survive this crisis...

EricTheWeary

prowla said:

I don't use Spotify, I'm not a great fan of Neil Young (though 4-Way Street is a great album!), I don't do podcasts, and I've never heard of the Rogan bloke before today.

Overall, I think I'll survive this crisis...

I don't know who Rogan is and I don't use Spotify. Maybe it has changed a bit but the algorithm did more to play promoted music than music that I actually liked. YouTube music seems to understand me better ('ooh it's him again let's get out the 70s and 80s stuff'). 

Philly_Q

EricTheWeary said:

prowla said:

I don't use Spotify, I'm not a great fan of Neil Young (though 4-Way Street is a great album!), I don't do podcasts, and I've never heard of the Rogan bloke before today.

Overall, I think I'll survive this crisis...

I don't know who Rogan is and I don't use Spotify. Maybe it has changed a bit but the algorithm did more to play promoted music than music that I actually liked. YouTube music seems to understand me better ('ooh it's him again let's get out the 70s and 80s stuff'). 

It does an excellent job of playing me music I like, although the playlists do get a bit repetitive - for any given band, it tends to always be the same two or three tracks, which I guess are the most popular ones.  It never tries to play me promoted music.

But then I have been using it for over a decade and I don't listen to a vast range of musical genres - the playlists tend to be stoner metal, traditional old metal, modern/progressive metal, '80s hair metal... you get the idea. 

I did listen to an album by a Swedish band called Sator the other day, and when it got to the end it played me stuff by a load of Swedish-language punk'n'roll bands, which was different.

Redlester

Philly_Q said:

I'm not a big Neil Young fan, although I do like some of his stuff, so in terms of availability of music this is only mildly annoying.

I'm more bothered that it sets a precedent.  I can't imagine anyone anticipated streaming services becoming politicised, such that people would want their content removed because of ideological opposition to someone else who's on there.

Here we all are, dumping our physical media because "everything's available online".  What if some of it just disappears, for reasons like this or something similar, and that's it, gone forever?

I know, most things are going to be available somewhere else, be it Apple, Amazon or wherever.  But that may not always be the case.  And anyway, who wants to subscribe to all of them?

Sounds like the plot of a JG Ballard short story or novel. 

I do not know this Rogan bloke's work, but what I have heard about it doesn't sound good. What I've read here makes him come across as being symptomatic of many of the ills of our age. 

Jalapeno

Maybe if Taylor Swift took exception there'd be a different outcome ?

DarnWeight

So in, I dunno, 5 or 10 years time, do we think it more likely that people will still be listening to Joe Rogan podcasts or Neil Young's music?

I know which I'd back over the long term, but presumably Spotify have this all priced up, and decided edgy clickbait yammering is hot right now.

DrCornelius

Genuine uncompromising musical talent v media savvy ‘personality’….. it’s going to be tough to pick sides in this one .

Ive just told the kids I’m cancelling our family Spotify and they are fuming - turns out they both love Rogan whereas I have about 20 Neil Young Albums on vinyl .

Could be a tricky weekend chez nous

stickyfiddle

DarnWeight said:

So in, I dunno, 5 or 10 years time, do we think it more likely that people will still be listening to Joe Rogan podcasts or Neil Young's music?

I know which I'd back over the long term, but presumably Spotify have this all priced up, and decided edgy clickbait yammering is hot right now.

In 5 years NY will probably have sold his back catalogue to a hedge fund and won't have control anyway. 

But shareholders rarely care about what happens in 5 years, particularly if they're staring down the barrel of a decision that will have financial consequences in the next 18 months. 

Philly_Q

DrCornelius said:

Genuine uncompromising musical talent v media savvy ‘personality’….. it’s going to be tough to pick sides in this one .

Ive just told the kids I’m cancelling our family Spotify and they are fuming - turns out they both love Rogan whereas I have about 20 Neil Young Albums on vinyl .

Could be a tricky weekend chez nous

I don't listen to podcasts but presumably Spotify also have podcasters who express views the opposite of Joe Rogan's, so there is some degree of balance?  

Are you cancelling over Rogan, or Neil Young, or just cancelling anyway?

DrCornelius

Philly_Q said:

DrCornelius said:

Genuine uncompromising musical talent v media savvy ‘personality’….. it’s going to be tough to pick sides in this one .

Ive just told the kids I’m cancelling our family Spotify and they are fuming - turns out they both love Rogan whereas I have about 20 Neil Young Albums on vinyl .

Could be a tricky weekend chez nous

I don't listen to podcasts but presumably Spotify also have podcasters who express views the opposite of Joe Rogan's, so there is some degree of balance?  

Are you cancelling over Rogan, or Neil Young, or just cancelling anyway?

Tbh I don’t like streaming services and only kept it as I felt like I was supporting the little guy against Amazon music and Apple .  After hearing about this case and reading more about the business I feel happy to keep the £17 a month in my pocket