Graham Nash and India Arie are the latest artists to pull their music from Spotify due to Joe Rogan. However, their reasoning for doing so is very different.
Nash said in a statement that he “completely agrees” with his Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young bandmate Neil Young after “having heard the COVID disinformation spread by Joe Rogan on Spotify. I am requesting that my solo recordings be removed from the service.”
Young was the first of various artists to remove their music from the streaming giant, because of Rogan’s alleged spreading of COVID misinformation, but also in protest against the unfair ways Spotify pays musicians. Joni Mitchell and Nils Lofgren followed Young not longer after.
Arie shared a statement on Instagram that she is removing her work off Spotify because Young “opened a door that I must walk through,” and that she finds Rogan problematic because of his “language about race.”
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“What I am talking about is respect,” Arie continued, “who get it and who doesn’t. Paying musicians a fraction of a penny? And him $100 [million]? This shows the type of company they are and the company that they keep. I’m tired.”
Rogan faced controversy last month after saying it’s “very strange” that anyone would call themselves Black unless they’re from the “darkest place” of Africa in his interview with podcast guest Jordan Peterson. Their debate was about what it means to be Black, and Rogan continued with: “There’s such a spectrum of shades of people. Unless you’re talking to someone who is, like, 100% African, from the darkest place, where they are not wearing any clothes all day and they’ve developed all that melanin to protect themselves from the sun. You know, even the term Black is weird. When you use it for people who are literally my color, it becomes very strange.”
Yesterday, following Young and Mitchell’s exit from Spotify, Rogan took to his own Instagram an 11-minute video explaining that he isn’t upset with the Godfather of Grunge, and that he wants to interview various medical experts from all sides on his show.
On Sunday, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek issued a statement surrounding the backlash of COVID misinformation being shared on the streaming giant, which explained Spotify will now add a “content advisory” label to podcasts that discuss the virus.
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