Neil Young will return his music to Spotify after keeping it off the streaming platform for over two years, The Guardian reported.
In January 2022, Young withdrew his entire catalog from the world's largest streaming service. The move was a form of protest against Joe Rogan, whose popular podcast was exclusively hosted on Spotify at the time.
Rogan faced widespread criticism for comments on the COVID-19 vaccine. Among the critics was Young, who slammed Spotify as the "home of life-threatening COVID misinformation," which was responsible for "selling lies for money."
"They can have Rogan or Young. Not both," Young said at the time.
In response, a Spotify spokesperson said, "We regret Neil's decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon."
In January 2022, amid backlash that arose over his controversial podcast, Rogan apologized, saying, "I don't always get it right," and pledged to "balance things out" by featuring "experts with differing opinions."
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek also issued an apology, saying, "We have an obligation to do more to provide balance and access to widely accepted information from the medical and scientific communities."
As of February, "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast was no longer limited to Spotify. The host made a new deal, worth about $250 million, allowing the podcast to be on platforms like Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and Amazon Music.
Young has since announced that he cannot maintain his opposition across all streaming platforms and will, therefore, bring back his music to Spotify, according to The Guardian.
"My decision comes as music services Apple and Amazon have started serving the same disinformation podcast features I had opposed at Spotify," he wrote in a statement. "I cannot just leave Apple and Amazon, like I did Spotify, because my music would have very little streaming outlet to music lovers at all, so I have returned to Spotify."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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