A few days ago, Neil Young threatened to take his music off of Spotify due to the platform’s relationship with Joe Rogan, a threat he later made good on. Since Young first made his thoughts heard, he has gotten a bunch of support online, so much so that it prompted #CancelSpotify to become a trending topic on Twitter yesterday (as Consequence notes). Some of that activity on Twitter came from fellow artists who have Young’s back.
Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz encouraged her followers to take action, sharing a link to a pre-existing anti-Spotify petition and writing, “30,000 artists signed a petition in 2020 outlining why spotify was bad for us (this before daniel ek made massive military industrial complex investments) and if you are just now paying attention thanks to neil young… welcome! sign on!”
30,000 artists signed a petition in 2020 outlining why spotify was bad for us (this before daniel ek made massive military industrial complex investments) and if you are just now paying attention thanks to neil young… welcome! sign on! https://t.co/IWvQHUvK2U
— speedy ortiz ÷ sad13 ÷ sadie dupuis ÷ haunted guy (@sad13) January 27, 2022
Other artists who weighed in include David Crosby, Peter Frampton, and Sebastian Bach.
Makes me proud of him https://t.co/GUsXg2gwZz
— David Crosby (@thedavidcrosby) January 25, 2022
Imagine calling yourself a rocker yet siding with some dude who has a podcast over @Neilyoung
you can stick to listening to your podcast and I will stick to listening to Neil Young
— Sebastian Bach (@sebastianbach) January 27, 2022
Spotify chooses Rogan over Neil Young because they are not in the music business – they are a tech platform, and however they can get people to spend more time on the platform, that’s where they will go. Amazon is not a bookstore. Spotify is not interested in the future of music
— Damon K (@dada_drummer) January 27, 2022
Good for you Neil.
I’ve always been an Apple guy for streaming. No Joe Rogan for me thank you! @neilyoung @SpotifyUSA— Peter Frampton (@peterframpton) January 28, 2022
Eve 6, as they tend to do, also came through with a bunch great tweets about the situation. In the most serious of them, they write, “i honestly didn’t think neil young meant to follow through with this and that even if he did there was no way his label would allow it. he meant it man. respect.” Meanwhile, one of the funniest reads, “just ran some numbers and neil young stands to lose 4 dollars over the next twenty years.” Check out Eve 6’s tweets below.
spotify gave joe rogan 300 million dollars https://t.co/URwqNyXgoZ
— nigh eve6 (@Eve6) January 26, 2022
that song still gets a million streams per month and we still make zero dollars. this is because of undisclosed back room deals that spotify made with record labels
— nigh eve6 (@Eve6) January 26, 2022
i honestly didn’t think neil young meant to follow through with this and that even if he did there was no way his label would allow it. he meant it man. respect https://t.co/atFYTktF6C
— nigh eve6 (@Eve6) January 26, 2022
a supposed music platform just chose a podcaster with 2 brain cells over one of the greatest living songwriters
— nigh eve6 (@Eve6) January 26, 2022
if spotify doesn’t take neil young seriously i bet they’ll heed the demands of eve6
— nigh eve6 (@Eve6) January 27, 2022
inexplicable multi car pileups on every major freeway, power grid lapses, toads rain down from the sky https://t.co/yFAOX8GF9H
— nigh eve6 (@Eve6) January 27, 2022
just ran some numbers and neil young stands to lose 4 dollars over the next twenty years
— nigh eve6 (@Eve6) January 27, 2022
looks like he’ll have to sell a piece of plastic foliage from one of his train sets to make up the lost income
— nigh eve6 (@Eve6) January 27, 2022
this emoji is the mark of the imbecile https://t.co/injgBCwn1J
— nigh eve6 (@Eve6) January 27, 2022
the last time neil young lost this much money was when a quarter fell through a hole in the pocket of his 501’s
— nigh eve6 (@Eve6) January 27, 2022
people who are like uhhhuhuh neil young is so woke he canceled himself are so cucked by capitalism they cannot fathom a person taking a principled position
— nigh eve6 (@Eve6) January 27, 2022
the metaphor @electricalWSOP used when he dunked on me honestly illuminated the issue for me. neil young isn’t telling anyone what they can and can’t say he’s just saying he doesn’t wanna share a figurative stage with a clown
— nigh eve6 (@Eve6) January 27, 2022
KEEP ON ROGAN IN THE FREE WORLD
— nigh eve6 (@Eve6) January 27, 2022
neil young was like suffocation no breathing don’t give a fuck about spotify streaming
— nigh eve6 (@Eve6) January 27, 2022
i’ll stop doing this bit when you stop rewarding me for it
— nigh eve6 (@Eve6) January 27, 2022
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.