Back in late January, Neil Young led the boycott against Spotify when he pulled all of his solo material from the platform. The decision came after he spoke up against COVID-19 misinformation spread by the titular host for Spotify-exclusive podcast The Joe Rogan Experience.
Young’s actions sparked a ripple effect and several other musicians joined in on pulling their catalogs from Spotify, one of the first being Crosby, Stills & Nash. However, the group quietly returned to the streaming giant. After a fan tweeted at David Crosby asking why his music reappeared, the musician replied, “I don’t own it now and the people who do are in business to make money.”
Back in February, Paste published a running list of the musicians who announced their departure from Spotify. In addition to Young and Crosby, Stills & Nash (as well as the solo catalogs of Crosby and Graham Nash), alternative rockers Failure, R&B singer India.Arie, E Street Band guitarist Nils Lofgren and folk legend Joni Mitchell joined in on the boycott. As reported by TIME, podcasters Brené Brown, Roxane Gay and Mary Trump also pulled their material or paused production.
However, many of these figures quietly returned to the platform. In addition to Crosby, Stills & Nash, both Crosby and Nash’s solo material is available once again. Failure’s material prior to 2015’s The Heart Is a Monster is also available, but this is most likely due to the band not having control of their earlier catalog before their pivot to releasing everything independently. Brené Brown’s Spotify-exclusive podcast Unlocking Us resumed, with the latest episode airing on May 25.
Arie, Lofgren, Mitchell, Gay and Trump’s material remains off the platform as of July 5.
On his show, Rogan encouraged people to not get the vaccine if they were “young” and “healthy.” Ironically, he announced that he had the virus in September, but assured fans that he was well taken care of thanks to Ivermectin, the drug used to treat parasitic roundworm, especially in veterinary practices. In light of the drug’s popularity amongst anti-vaccinationists, the FDA tweeted, “You are not a horse.”
Rogan’s podcast continues to platform misinformation. In a recent episode, former Green Beret sniper Tim Kennedy said the Defund the Police movement played a role in the Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde, Texas which claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers. In a conversation with MMA fighter Josh Barnett in March 2022, Rogan said, “If it gets to a point that I can’t do it anymore, where I have to do it in some sort of weird way where I walk on eggshells and mind my p’s and q’s, f**k that!”
Want to get your Neil Young fix? Revisit Paste’s recommendations for Spotify alternatives here.
