I recently wrote about Neil Young demanding that Spotify remove Joe Rogan off their service because of the vaccine mis-information that is often present on his podcast, or remove his library. Well, Spotify chose Joe Rogan. And at the time I said this:
And then there’s the possibility that a Taylor Swift or an Adele decides to follow Neil Young’s lead and takes their fan base off of Spotify. Can Spotify afford to take that hit?
Well, as if on cue, Joni Mitchell has put out a statement where she points out the vaccine mis-information that Spotify is in effect spreading via the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, backed up by a large number of medical professionals. The she followed it up with this:
I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify. Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue. —Joni Mitchell
So that’s two artists who have taken their music off of Spotify because of the fact that the streaming service seems to be choosing Joe Rogan and money over scientific fact. My guess is that more artists are going to do the same thing in the coming days. And one wonders what Spotify is going to do if or more likely when that happens.
I also said this in my original article:
The thing is that this situation is causing people to dump Spotify and try Tidal, Apple Music, and other streaming services. And they may not come back to Spotify if they like the service that they switched to. Which of course is great for those other services. But it’s bad for Spotify. What makes it worse for Spotify is that one of those companies that I mentioned above is a three trillion dollar company who buys other companies using the loose change in Tim Cook’s sofa. In other words, if Apple who is a company who isn’t afraid to take a stand decides to take a shot at Spotify, it might not end well for Spotify as Apple has way deeper pockets than Spotify and they may sense that Spotify is vulnerable at the moment. Which means that it’s the perfect time for Apple to try and take the kill shot.
Apple seems to have at least lined up the kill shot by trolling Spotify:
Just one day after Neil Young’s music was pulled from Spotify, the streaming platform’s No. 1 competitor, Apple Music, is showing the rock legend some love.
On Thursday (Jan. 27), Apple Music highlighted Young’s catalog under the header “We Love Neil,” displayed prominently within the service’s “Browse” section. The header is a clear dig at Spotify, which has become the subject of scorn after purging Young’s catalog from the platform Wednesday at the rocker’s request, due to COVID-19 vaccine information spread by Spotify’s Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
Not only that, Apple did this on Twitter:
Well played Apple. Well played.
Now I should note that Spotify does have a significant lead over Apple Music in terms of subscribers. But, you have to wonder how many hits Spotify can take from artists leaving them and subscribers dumping them before that lead shrinks and Spotify is forced to rethink their life choices?
Joni Mitchell Pulls Her Music Catalog From Spotify In Solidarity With Neil Young….. And Apple Trolls Spotify
Posted in Commentary with tags Apple, Spotify on January 29, 2022 by itnerdI recently wrote about Neil Young demanding that Spotify remove Joe Rogan off their service because of the vaccine mis-information that is often present on his podcast, or remove his library. Well, Spotify chose Joe Rogan. And at the time I said this:
And then there’s the possibility that a Taylor Swift or an Adele decides to follow Neil Young’s lead and takes their fan base off of Spotify. Can Spotify afford to take that hit?
Well, as if on cue, Joni Mitchell has put out a statement where she points out the vaccine mis-information that Spotify is in effect spreading via the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, backed up by a large number of medical professionals. The she followed it up with this:
I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify. Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue. —Joni Mitchell
So that’s two artists who have taken their music off of Spotify because of the fact that the streaming service seems to be choosing Joe Rogan and money over scientific fact. My guess is that more artists are going to do the same thing in the coming days. And one wonders what Spotify is going to do if or more likely when that happens.
I also said this in my original article:
The thing is that this situation is causing people to dump Spotify and try Tidal, Apple Music, and other streaming services. And they may not come back to Spotify if they like the service that they switched to. Which of course is great for those other services. But it’s bad for Spotify. What makes it worse for Spotify is that one of those companies that I mentioned above is a three trillion dollar company who buys other companies using the loose change in Tim Cook’s sofa. In other words, if Apple who is a company who isn’t afraid to take a stand decides to take a shot at Spotify, it might not end well for Spotify as Apple has way deeper pockets than Spotify and they may sense that Spotify is vulnerable at the moment. Which means that it’s the perfect time for Apple to try and take the kill shot.
Apple seems to have at least lined up the kill shot by trolling Spotify:
Just one day after Neil Young’s music was pulled from Spotify, the streaming platform’s No. 1 competitor, Apple Music, is showing the rock legend some love.
On Thursday (Jan. 27), Apple Music highlighted Young’s catalog under the header “We Love Neil,” displayed prominently within the service’s “Browse” section. The header is a clear dig at Spotify, which has become the subject of scorn after purging Young’s catalog from the platform Wednesday at the rocker’s request, due to COVID-19 vaccine information spread by Spotify’s Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
Not only that, Apple did this on Twitter:
Well played Apple. Well played.
Now I should note that Spotify does have a significant lead over Apple Music in terms of subscribers. But, you have to wonder how many hits Spotify can take from artists leaving them and subscribers dumping them before that lead shrinks and Spotify is forced to rethink their life choices?
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