Spotify Takes Down Neil Younger’s Music After His Joe Rogan Ultimatum

Mr. Younger’s report label,

Warner Music

WMG -0.20%

Group Corp.’s Warner Information, formally requested Spotify take away the music Wednesday.

“We wish all of the world’s music and audio content material to be obtainable to Spotify customers. With that comes nice accountability in balancing each security for listeners and freedom for creators,” a Spotify spokesman stated Wednesday. The corporate has detailed content material insurance policies in place and has eliminated over 20,000 Covid-19-related podcast episodes because the begin of the pandemic, he added.

“We remorse Neil’s choice to take away his music from Spotify, however hope to welcome him again quickly,” he stated.

For Spotify, the controversy is a big check of its large guess on Mr. Rogan, certainly one of podcasting’s hottest and polarizing voices. Spotify struck a take care of Mr. Rogan in 2020 price greater than $100 million, based on folks conversant in the matter, bringing his loyal followers and profitable present completely to its service. Mr. Rogan is central to Spotify’s podcast technique in attracting listeners and advert {dollars} to its platform and reveals.

Whereas the letter has since been faraway from Mr. Younger’s web site, he has been in discussions along with his label and Spotify since then, and continued to carry his floor, based on folks conversant in the matter.

Mr. Rogan didn’t reply to a request for remark.

On Wednesday, Neil Younger took extra jabs at Spotify on his web site, calling on others to affix him in eradicating music from Spotify. “I sincerely hope that different artists and report corporations will transfer off the Spotify platform and cease supporting Spotify’s lethal misinformation about Covid,” he wrote however added that he “can’t actually anticipate that to occur.”

Spotify represents 60% of the streaming of his music to listeners, Mr. Younger wrote, and pointed listeners to the place his music remains to be obtainable to stream, together with Apple Music, Amazon Music and Qobuz, a high-res music streamer. Mr. Younger additionally thanked his label for supporting him in his needs to depart Spotify.

Earlier than the elimination, Mr. Younger had 2.4 million followers and over six million month-to-month listeners on Spotify.

Mr. Rogan’s present has created tensions for Spotify earlier than. Earlier this month, a bunch of 270 scientists and healthcare professionals signed an open letter to Spotify accusing the podcast of “selling baseless conspiracy theories” and asking the service to take motion towards mass-misinformation occasions on its platform.

Some workers expressed concern over the podcast’s content material throughout a town-hall assembly in September 2020, referring to materials they felt was anti-transgender, based on folks conversant in the matter.

The corporate stood by its star podcaster, with Chief Govt

Daniel Ek

saying that the ambition to make Spotify the “largest audio platform on the earth” entails embracing various voices and differing opinions as the corporate chases scale in podcasting.

In 2018 Spotify launched a “Hate Content material and Hateful Conduct” coverage that touched off a debate about whether or not streaming providers ought to punish artists for alleged dangerous conduct. It confronted backlash throughout the music trade and walked again the coverage three weeks later.

By eradicating his music from Spotify, Mr. Younger received’t gather the royalty funds linked with streaming his songs there that are break up between him, his report label, writer and different rights holders to his music.

Whereas Mr. Younger’s label is the licenser to Spotify and legally has management over how and the place his music is distributed, it’s typical for a report firm to take an artist’s needs under consideration. An act of Mr. Younger’s cachet specifically tends to have extra management over their profession and artistic output.

Final yr publicly traded music funding agency

Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd.

introduced a deal to buy a 50% stake in Neil Younger’s songwriting catalog. The sale fetched a worth between $40 million and $50 million, based on folks conversant in the deal. Whereas Hipgnosis buyers stand to learn from royalties when Mr. Younger’s music is streamed on Spotify and different providers, music legal professionals say they wouldn’t have a say within the tussle with Spotify due to the best way publishing rights sometimes work.

Streaming accounts for 84% of recorded music income within the U.S., based on the Recording Business Affiliation of America. Spotify is by far the biggest music-streaming service by paid subscriptions.

Basic tunes like these present in Mr. Younger’s catalog, specifically, have been streaming effectively, as providers entice older subscribers and youthful listeners uncover the favorites of their elders.

Through the pandemic, nostalgia listening surged much more. On streaming providers, music older than 18 months is a significant progress space, making up some 70% of listeners’ consumption, based on MRC Information, previously Nielsen Music.

Write to Anne Steele at Anne.Steele@wsj.com