Major changes are happening over at Spotify and it is coming from artists, not the company. We have reported on the platform being hit with criticism regarding Joe Rogan's podcast and his comments that have caused controversy, from his remarks about race to alleged misinformation about COVID. Neil Young launched a movement when he demanded his catalog be removed from Spotify until the platform addressed Rogan's antics, and instead, Spotify axed Young and stuck by Rogan.
Later, artists like India Arie, Joni Mitchell, Nils Lofgren, Eve 6, Belly (the rock band, not the rapper), as well as Young's bandmates David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash (Crosby, Stills, & Nash), all spoke out against Spotify and encouraged other artists to remove their music, as well.
The streaming platform's founder and CEO Daniel Ek reportedly spoke about the controversy during a call with investors and when questioned about the ongoing controversy, he doubled down on keeping Rogan on-air.
"I think the important part here is that we don't change our policies based on one creator, nor do we change it based on any media cycle," Ek reportedly said. "Our policies have been carefully written with the input from numbers of internal and external experts in this space – and I do believe they're right for our platform."
"While Joe has a massive audience and is actually the number one podcast in more than ninety markets, he also has to abide by those policies." Ek also reportedly admitted that advertisers have been calling about the controversy but didn't state if any had pulled their spots because of Rogan.
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