Spotify, Neil Young and Misinformation

The Spotify controversy has been going on now for about a week and doesn't look like it will be over any time soon. There had been some criticism of Spotify concerning the podcast show of right wing talk show host Joe Rogan over misinformation about Covid-19. There were doctors, scientist and health officials went on the record to complain about the heath misinformation on the popular Rogan podcast. People were angry about the lies coming from his guests and from Rogan himself. Neil Young demanded that Spotify either remove Joe Rogan from the platform or he would remove all of his music from Spotify. Then Joni Mitchell joined the protest followed by some other artists. Spotify's stock value has dropped and the controversy continues. It is uncertain where this will go or end up. Other artists have joined the protest and many other podcasters on the Spotify have also taken themselves off the platform. A large number of people have deleted their Spotify accounts.

I've been a happy Spotify user for music over the past several years since I retired and stopped collecting music. I've loaded my mixes up to the site and also use it to keep up with new music releases. I've posted about my use of the platform for some of my music listening patterns and especially for classical new releases. However, I really do support the stance that Neil Young has taken and I immediately sent a message to Spotify asking them to consider the issues that have been raised about the misinformation on their site. 

I'm not sure how I am going to proceed. I've been looking at alternatives to Spotify and there are some options out there. The problems with Spotify go way beyond the misinformation and racism of a podcast host and his guests. The way the system pays artists for their streaming music has been an issue for years and that has contributed to the anger of artist against the platform. I'm just scratching the surface here of the many issues involved in this new streaming music world.

There is also the issue of where does this stop. How many of these services should by boycotted and which ones and for what issues? There are so many. Just considering the platforms out there with pandemic misinformation on them... Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and many more. Who is policing them?

Right now I'm taking a wait and see attitude with this stuff.