EK, ROGAN RESPOND TO ARTIST BOYCOTTS OVER PODCAST
Rock legends Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and David Crosby have announced that they will remove their music from Spotify to protest shock jock Joe Rogan's spreading COVID misinformation via his podcast on the streamery, and word has it that Crosby and Young's longtime bandmates Stephen Stills and Graham Nash may soon join the fight. In response to the ferment, Spot boss Daniel Ek tweeted the following.
There’s been a lot of conversation about information regarding COVID-19 on Spotify. We’ve heard the criticism and we’re implementing changes to help combat misinformation. https://t.co/ic8jfR1RNR
— Daniel Ek (@eldsjal) January 30, 2022
You can read the details here; below are a few bullets.
- "Today we are publishing our long-standing Platform Rules. These policies were developed by our internal team in concert with a number of outside experts and are updated regularly to reflect the changing safety landscape."
- "We are working to add a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes a discussion about COVID-19. This advisory will direct listeners to our dedicated COVID-19 Hub, a resource that provides easy access to data-driven facts, up-to-date information as shared by scientists, physicians, academics and public-health authorities around the world, as well as links to other trusted sources."
- "We will also begin testing ways to highlight our Platform Rules in our creator and publisher tools to raise awareness of what’s acceptable and help creators understand their accountability for the content they post on our platform."
For his part, Rogan posted a video on Instagram in which he vowed to strive for more balance and attempted to offset a certain "perception" of him and his show.
Spotify stock, which had been on a downswing for the last several days, recovered more than 19 points on 1/31.
Rogan's podcast remains on Spotify, however, which means that despite these efforts to balance his discredited assertions about the virus and the pandemic with factual sources, the pressure is unlikely to let up. Could a Canned Heat boycott be far behind? Stay tuned.
