She holds a PhD in ethnomusicology from the University of Toronto and also helped score several plays and films, including Sook-Yin Lee’s feature film “ Octavio is Dead!”Īs an admirer of Neil Young and Joni Mitchell - both of whom have a long history of supporting political causes - O’Brien says she supports their right to “go out on a limb and make an ultimatum to make their thoughts known.” But she’s unsure if deplatforming Joe Rogan is anything more than a short-term solution to a much larger problem.
Spotify did not respond to any specific requests for comment.Īlia O'Brien is a Toronto singer and flautist who plays in the metal band Blood Ceremony and the psychedelic collective known as Badge Époque Ensemble. The Star reached out to four Canadian musicians to weigh in on the Young-Rogan-Spotify battle and to comment on the current state of music streaming. The portal claims that Spotify generates more money for rights holders than any other streaming service. Last year, Spotify launched Loud & Clear, a web portal that presents data on how Spotify streams are determined and paid out. The Union of Musicians and Allied Workers, which represents thousands of music workers fighting for a fairer music industry, applauded Young’s decision to pull his music, and released a list of demands for Spotify, including demands to pay artists at least one cent per stream, to adopt a user-centric payment model, to make all closed-door contracts public and more. The letter inspired Young to leave the service this week and Mitchell also linked to it in her own message.The outrage comes also in reaction to the $100 million Spotify dished out for exclusive rights to the massively popular “Joe Rogan Experience,” while refusing to adjust its payment scale for musicians. Robert Malone, a virologist banned from Twitter for spreading misinformation about COVID-19, prompted hundreds of medical professionals to sign onto an open letter slamming Spotify for profiting off of putting lives at risk as the pandemic rages on. Rogan regularly spotlights guests who peddle misinformation and makes no effort to fact-check their claims. Rogan’s show also happens to be the world’s most popular podcast, bringing in more than an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, with multiple episodes hitting Spotify each week. In recent years, Rogan and a number of his featured guests have openly expressed transphobia, discouraged his listeners from wearing face masks to reduce Covid-19 transmission because masks are “for bitches,” and broadly spread doubt about vaccines to his massive audience.
Rogan’s podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience, is no stranger to controversy. And unlike Young, she didn’t have an existing beef with the service over its stream quality. “I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.”Īs one of the world’s most famous and most well-respected living musicians, Mitchell’s decision to abandon Spotify over Rogan is bound to turn some heads. Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives,” Mitchell wrote. “I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify. In a post to her website on Friday, Joni Mitchell announced that she would “stand with Neil Young” and remove her catalogue from the streaming platform. Spotify’s Joe Rogan headache is about to get a lot worse.Įarlier this week, musician Neil Young announced that he would pull his music from the streaming service to protest Spotify’s relationship with Joe Rogan, who the company brought under its wing in an exclusive $100 million deal two years ago.
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