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Spotify Removing Neil Young's Music
- MegaDeKay 5y agoI'm sure Mr Young knew that this would be the end result and that it would be a hit to his pocketbook in taking the stand he did. I respect his integrity for doing so and hope other artists do the same.
- gonzo 5y agoHe just sold a 50% interest in his catalog for an estimated $150m. https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/06/business/neil-young-rights-deal-scli-intl-gbr/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/06/business/neil-young-rights-de...
- bdowling 5y agoThe buyer may have a claim against him for spoiling the value of their purchase.
- gpm 5y agoSeems unlikely to me, this plausibly increases the value more than it decreases the value. A ton of press, driving people to support him, driving direct sales (e.g. https://neilyoungarchives.com/account?screen=plans https://neilyoungarchives.com/account?screen=plans). Increases the potential audience from "people who like his music" to "people who dislike Joe Rogan (or like his music)". Etc. It could turn out poorly for him, but even from a purely business perspective it's not an obviously bad decision.
- bdowling 5y ago> Young, 76, said Spotify accounted for 60% of the streaming of his music to listeners around the world. The removal is "a huge loss for my record company to absorb," he said. So, at least according to Young, the move is "a huge loss".
- rexreed 5y agoWell he does have a Heart of Gold. That must be worth something based on the average weight of an adult human heart and price per ounce of gold.
- karaterobot 5y agoHe found it after all? Good for him! I know he looked all over for it.
- hwers 5y agoI think it's honorable to stand up for what you believe in in this way. But in this case I believe the cause he stood up against was a bit misguided.
- sophacles 5y agoIt's true. Joe Rogan is very misguided.
- enumjorge 5y agoHe doesn’t want his music to be on a platform that is bankrolling someone who helps spread misinformation about vaccines. He suffered from Polio as a kid so this is something that means something on a personal level. That doesn’t seem that misguided to me.
- swagatkonchada 5y agopeople have a right to speak their mind wherever they want; that's the basis of the internet, free expression.
- gpm 5y agoAnd people have a right not to want to do business with a company that gave a hundred million dollars to someone producing misinformation. Pretending this is a case of "spotify has an open platform that people can come speak on" is disingenuous, Spotify went out of their way and spent a ton of money to get the content he disapproves of on their platform. (Comment aimed at a number of comments in this thread, including but not limited to the one I replied to)
- aSithLord 5y agodid he catch polio after he was vaccinated?
- gpm 5y agoGoogle tells me he caught in 1952, and we only began mass vaccination in polio in 1955, so almost certainly not.
- systemvoltage 5y agoIt is incomprehensible for me to understand why people call this "principled". It is bullying in the words of President Obama - "That's not activism" [1]. If Neil wants to go and debate, he should show up on JRE and put his points forth. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaHLd8de6nM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaHLd8de6nM
- kahrl 5y agoSeriously. He's playing the culture war and identity politics game for his own benefit. People who are downvoting you think it is "principled" to bully an open platform to moderate content and censor voices inconsistent with their own beliefs. Insanity.
- lostcolony 5y agoPulling one's business from sources you disagree with is 100% activism. Hell, it's the entire idea behind economic sanctions. Going to talk to Joe Rogan isn't going to change anyone's mind, and is just providing him more attention and validating him as a 'platform', and thus perpetuating the problem.
- systemvoltage 5y agoI completely disagree. Activism is "Pull", not "Push". You need to put your points forth so as to rally people behind you, not beat them into submission. This is just wokeness and cancel culture. It is top-down attempt for censorship, absolutely not activism.
- qbasic_forever 5y ago> This is just wokeness and cancel culture. What? How? Neil decided on his own to pull all his music. No one bullied him, no one called him out on twitter, etc. This isn't even a 'woke' issue. Neil decided he doesn't want to share a platform with disinformation spreaders, period.
- afavour 5y agoThat doesn’t match any dictionary definition of activism that I know. Boycotts are activism. Always have been.
- timr 5y agoI hope other artists stand up for the same freedom of speech and expression that allow them to be artists.
- mc32 5y agoOr he might have miscalculated his clout. Or indeed he may have just wanted to withdraw his catalogue as protest —if the latter, I think it’s misguided idea. Lots of musicians or artists can have diametric opinions to each other. It would be a disservice if they all started dictating who could be on the same service as them. What next, only allow streaming to people who hold my views on X, Y or Z?
- gkoberger 5y agoI don't think he miscalculated anything. We're all talking about it, and he publicly voted with his money. I doubt he believed Spotify would drop Rogan the next day or anything. You're missing an important distinction. Spotify isn't just letting people stream Rogan, they're actively producing the content.
- enumjorge 5y agoIt surprises me that some people are talking about this as if Neil Young really thought he would win this fight. He’s been in the business for a while. I highly doubt he’d be naive enough to think Spotify would capitulate. I guess he could have simply said he was removing his music because he disagreed with Spotify’s business practices, but this way, Spotify owns the action of removing his music from their service. NY didn’t walk out, Spotify chose Rogan over him.
- NikolaeVarius 5y agoWait, so theres been a prevailing thing about "censorship" and "platforms are allowed to dictate what content they host" are we now moving onto "private citizens are not allowed to dictate where their content is served from?"
- floren 5y agoPerhaps rather, if you pull up stakes every time someone else on the same platform announces they prefer grape jelly over strawberry (fucking animals!), pretty soon you're going to have N platforms for N people. Which I suppose is one possible Fediverse end-game: millions of individual platforms, federating and un-federating on a daily basis as people discover that someone they thought was cool actually voted for McCain in 2008.
- kahrl 5y agoHe's asking for an open platform to become moderated to limit content to media consistent with his own beliefs. If he doesn't want to do business with an open platform, that's his problem. But I would not call that "integrity."
- afavour 5y agoC’mon. In what world is Spotify an open platform?
- kahrl 5y agoEarth. The real one we're currently living in. Got any source that lists artists censored or not able to put their stuff on spotify due to the speech content?
- mywittyname 5y agoIf you want to be on Spotify's platform, you have to play by their rules, 100%. There is/was a number of artist whose work was not on Spotify for whatever reason.
- bydo 5y agoThey specifically said so in their statement: "We have detailed content policies in place and we’ve removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID since the start of the pandemic." [0] They just won't touch their golden goose. And remember, they're not just not removing Rogan's misinformation, they're producing and promoting it. [0]: https://deadline.com/2022/01/neil-young-leaving-spotify-joe-rogan-covid-vaccines-1234920496/ https://deadline.com/2022/01/neil-young-leaving-spotify-joe-...
- baskethead 5y agoNo, he hated Spotify already because they only had lower-quality versions of his music. He wanted to take his music off Spotify already, he just used the Joe Rogan issue as virtue signaling to cause a commotion.
- throwawaymanbot 5y agoNot sure of Spotify’s angle here. Artists don’t get enough money from Spotify to be loyal… could Lead to a mass exodus. I hope it does. Rogan gets to metaphorically drive drunk around town free from consequences it seems.
- aSithLord 5y ago
- injb 5y agoI think that angle is that until they reeled in JRE, they didn't really have anything original or exclusive. Virtually everything that people were listening to belonged to legacy record companies and artists. The Joe Rogan Experience is one of the biggest things going, and it's still young as a show, and they have it exclusively, so don't expect them to give it up for someone whose popularity peaked a long time ago (no disrespect to Neil Young).
- mywittyname 5y agoMost artists don't have any say in the matter. For every Taylor Swift, there are a million Neon Trees.
- cookie_monsta 5y agoNot a JR fan at all, but I suspect that Spotify knows very well who gets more listens between him and Neil Young. There may be ideology playing out on the edges of this thing, but Spotify's angle is 100% commercial.
- racl101 5y agoPoor Joe. He just wanted to keep on rocking in the free world.
- kerneloftruth 5y agoFree, except for speech. It's sad how an aging rocker who used to celebrate nonconformity and questioning authority now becomes a finger waving old man telling everyone that there's only one truth.
- whermans 5y agoHe is free to voice his displeasure at sharing a platform with an ill-informed blowhard spouting dangerous bullshit out of every orifice. Spotify has no obligation to platform Rogan, but they choose to tie their flag to his mast, and I for one am happy I switched to a different platform.
- golemiprague 5y ago
- colechristensen 5y agoThere’s a difference between nonconformity and questioning authority and packaging those things for sale. Rebellion as a Service now sells you that feeling of fighting the man packaged up in easy to consume pieces. Joe Rogan is an entertainer, not a rebel.
- johndevor 5y agoIsn't a rebel somebody who takes controversial or unpopular stands?
- colechristensen 5y agoWell, no. Plus he’s doing it for the money.
- dominotw 5y agoThis is good news for spotify. They haven't been able to make any inroads into podcasts, video segments despite penning deals worth millions of dollars with the likes of rogan. They need series of controversies like this for people to even know that they now have content other than music. I haven't listened to rogan in years but now i am curious to give it a try.
- wffurr 5y agoMeanwhile I'm switching my family's subscription over to Tidal instead of Spotify. Don't need to be contributing to that kind of thing.
- chroem- 5y agoDoes anyone else remember a time when different people could have different opinions without getting offended?
- afavour 5y agoIn all seriousness: no. There have always been protest moves like this, boycotts and so on. Everyone likes to pretend that protesting the views someone else has is this brand new snowflake era but that’s never been true.
- vinay427 5y agoEven if that once existed, this comment seems to exemplify what you wrote. The GP can freely voice their opposition to Spotify by moving to another service. They don’t seem offended to me, but rather resolute on a reasonable issue.
- JasonFruit 5y agoNot about absolutely every issue, but it does seem like there are more absolute redline divisive issues on which we can't be friends if we disagree. In fact, we not only can't be friends, we can't even get together to have a good argument, because that's offering you legitimacy and, after all, you're one of the bad people who aren't really even human at this point.
- bmarquez 5y agoDiscussed yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30093354 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30093354
- commandlinefan 5y agoI read that he actually doesn't own the rights to his music catalog any more, so technically Spotify could ignore his demands. Although if that's true, it's surprising the article doesn't mention it.
- furgooswft13 5y agoHe sold a significant stake in it at least, reposting my comment from another thread: I'm confused. I read Neil Young recently sold significant stake in his music catalog to an investment company [1]. Doing something like this pretty much nullifies that investment. Perhaps the particulars of the deal he signed still allows him to do this, in which case the investment company made a bad deal. If Spotify is just doing this as a courtesy, without full permission from all relevant stake holders, or specific contractual cover, then the investment company should be looking to sue both Neil Young and Spotify. Surely I'm missing something. 1. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/06/neil-young-sells-50percent-o https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/06/neil-young-sells-50percent-o...
- rlayton2 5y agoThis controversy will be over in a few months at worse. Spotify nullifies the damage by removing the music now, and the investment in the music would be a long term investment.
- kcplate 5y agoI predict within a year or so the content will be back. Quietly and with zero press…and it would not surprise me a bit of all parties involved have already agreed to a date. This is the music business after all.
- mywittyname 5y ago> Perhaps the particulars of the deal he signed still allows him to do this, in which case the investment company made a bad deal. Or they factored that into the price. The dude is known for political activism as much as he is for his music. Any investor who did their due diligence knows that Neil Young is very opinionated about how his music is used. So if he negotiated for continued control over his music, the investors should have known he was going to cost them money.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- grover35 5y ago[flagged]
- zozbot234 5y agoHe is not getting canceled; he has cut ties with Spotify because of their perceived endorsement of Joe Rogan's views as expressed in his podcast.
- grover35 5y agoI'm saying that the tech companies feel safe now, so the tech companies can support content creators who express increasingly right-wing views, as Spotify is doing by choosing Joe Rogan over Neil Young.
- spiderice 5y agoI would say that the fact that Spotify and others feel comfortable letting people express their "right-wing view" is a good thing. The fact that you feel like it is awful is a little horrifying.
- baskethead 5y agoJoe Rogan is a staunch liberal. The fact you don’t know that speaks volumes about the legitimacy of your views on him. He supported Bernie Sanders in both elections.
- grover35 5y agoThat's a cover for what he really thinks, he regularly invites white supremacists onto his show. Gavin McInnes, Jordan Peterson, Dave Rubin, etc
- baskethead 5y agoYou literally have no idea what you're talking about. You should educate yourself Dave Rubin: He had Dave Rubin on before Proud Boys existed, and he criticized him for his views: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG96VnIGXwo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG96VnIGXwo Jordan Peterson: Please give a single comment where Jordan Peterson supports white supremacy Dave Rubin: https://twitter.com/steinkobbe/status/1306743941459570696 https://twitter.com/steinkobbe/status/1306743941459570696
- aSithLord 5y agoWell I hope Neil Young will remember, a spotify fan don't need him around anyhow
- cookie_monsta 5y agoI have the feeling that Neil is going to be ok without Spotify, too.
- pjmorris 5y agoI appreciate the pithy quote and its references even if I'm sad to see Mr. Young's catalog go.
- paxys 5y ago*Per Neil Young's request. That part is important to add. They aren't punishing him or something. Unrelated to this drama – I wish Spotify had a music-only (non-podcast) plan. It is annoying to think of the huge chunk of my monthly bill that is going to Rogan and a billion True Crime podcasts and lots of others that I absolutely don't use or care about. Meanwhile artists are getting paid peanuts.
- sersi 5y agoCompletely agreed... I'd love to be able to only subscribe to music.
- chipgap98 5y agoI see a lot of takes that it would be censorship for Spotify to remove Joe Rogan's podcast. I get where those are coming from. However, Spotify isn't just hosting Joe Rogan's content, they actively advertise for it and try to get more people to listen to it. It seems like that is a much more editorial role and something worthy of criticizing them for.
- spiderice 5y agoNot really. They pay him a lot of money and want a return on investment. It's a great podcast with a lot of interesting guests. I see nothing wrong with Spotify advertising for it.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- jimmyjazz14 5y agoKinda funny because I never even thought about listening to Rogan on Spotify till this whole stunt but I started listening to his show for the first time today. Its not my thing but I'm not sure I understand the uproar over it. Maybe I am missing something?
- bromuro 5y agoI don’t even know who this Rogan is, I never listened to a podcast in my life and I don’t remember a song by Neil Young. I started downloading MP3s again. I am tired of postcasts and electron music players. Lastfm works great to discover new music.
- cookie_monsta 5y agoNeil Young fans: what's Spotify? Spotify users: who's Neil Young?