Spotify Support Buckles Under Complaints From Angry Neil Young Fans (arstechnica.com) 599
On Monday, famed singer-songwriter Neil Young had his music removed from Spotify as a protest against the platform's distribution of Joe Rogan, who's been widely criticized for spreading misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines on his Spotify-exclusive podcast. Now, Neil's fans are taking their frustrations out on Spotify. Ars Technica reports: Though the loss of Young's music likely represents a small percentage of overall streams on Spotify, Young pointed out that "Spotify represents 60% of the streaming of my music to listeners around the world." For Young and his fans, the hit was palpable, and his fans are apparently taking their frustrations out on Spotify. The hashtag #SpotifyDeleted trended on Twitter yesterday, and fans seem to have inundated customer support with so many messages that Spotify has had to take it offline at times. "We're currently getting a lot of contacts so may be slow to respond," a large red banner has read on the support page. Options to message the company, which have previously included live chat with a customer support agent or a chat bot, are now limited to an email address link.
"When I left Spotify, I felt better," Young wrote on his website today. "I support free speech. I have never been in favor of censorship. Private companies have the right to choose what they profit from, just as I can choose not to have my music support a platform that disseminates harmful information. I am happy and proud to stand in solidarity with the front line health care workers who risk their lives every day to help others." The artist, who has long criticized audio quality on streaming services, and on Spotify in particular, closed with one last dig. "As an unexpected bonus, I sound better everywhere else," he wrote.
"When I left Spotify, I felt better," Young wrote on his website today. "I support free speech. I have never been in favor of censorship. Private companies have the right to choose what they profit from, just as I can choose not to have my music support a platform that disseminates harmful information. I am happy and proud to stand in solidarity with the front line health care workers who risk their lives every day to help others." The artist, who has long criticized audio quality on streaming services, and on Spotify in particular, closed with one last dig. "As an unexpected bonus, I sound better everywhere else," he wrote.
"When I left Spotify" (Score:2)
Re: "When I left Spotify" (Score:5, Informative)
Re:"When I left Spotify" (Score:5, Informative)
No, Neil Young told Spotify to either censor Joe Rogan or remove Young's music from the site. People who miss his music should take it up with him rather than Spotify.
Personally, this kind of thing is exactly why I buy and rip CDs rather than pay to stream music.
Re:"When I left Spotify" (Score:5, Informative)
Why? He said why he's leaving Spotify (he can't condone the fact that Spotify is paying $100M for vaccine misinformation), and thus pulled his music off.
His music is still on other platforms, and if you're a fan, perhaps you will cancel your Spotify subscription and subscribe to one of the competing services that still carry him.
With these services, it's all about numbers. Spotify lives and dies by subscription numbers. It's obvious they make money from Joe Rogan, and that's their right to. Just as it's Neil Young's right to not support a platform that he feels is doing the wrong thing.
He always knew Spotify will remove him, and he probably wants it, as he's been complaining for years about streaming music Now he had a reason to. Subscribers to Spotify are leaving messages that they're leaving, and the publicity probably alerted other subscribers who remain subscribed but hardly use the service to also cancel once and for all.
Spotify can always go promote Eric Clapton if they wanted instead (Clapton became an anti-vaxxer after getting fully vaccinated because he spent a day feeling like crap - in other words, he had a perfectly normal reaction).
Chances are, the move will probably barely cost him any money - if his fans move to another service, then those payments increase. But you're also talking about someone rich enough that streaming much royalty rates have been a rounding error anyways.
Re:"When I left Spotify" (Score:5, Funny)
I am reminded of a meme about how people respond when they hear about this story.
If they're under 30, they ask "Who's Neil Young?"
If they're under 60, they ask "Oh, he's still alive?"
If they're over 59, they ask "What's Spotify?"
At least now we know the male form of a Karen.
Re:"When I left Spotify" (Score:4, Funny)
At 63, I find your "What's Spotify" offensive. It's me or you with your disinformation!
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His argument is also wrong. He absolutely asked Spotify to censor Rogan, and used his own music as leverage.
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No he didn't. He expressed his own right to free association and gave Spotify a completely open choice of what to do. This is free speech in action.
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Young gave Spotify the choice to censor or not. See my other comment for definitions of censorship that make this crystal clear
Re:"When I left Spotify" (Score:5, Insightful)
Indeed. And they chose not. Free Speech in action. You realise choice is a fundamental tenet of free speech right?
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Spotify *can't* censor anyone by decisions it makes regarding its own platform. Freedom of speech includes freedom from compelled speech too, and Spotify has no legal obligation to be a platform for anyone's views. You make editorial decisions then face the consequences in the court of public opinion.
What this means is Spotify's damned if they do, damned if they don't. That's actually the way it's *supposed* to work. If you don't like the editorial position of the New York Times, don't buy it; send you
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Because censorship -- as you define it -- is an individual liberty. In some cases it's a civic duty.
If a company is profiting from promoting Holocaust denialism, racism, or anti-science hysteria it's a moral duty of a private individual to withdraw his support from that company and encourage others to do so.
Just because the government shouldn't do something doesn't mean individuals shouldn't. The government can't proselytize of a religion but individuals are and should be free to do so. A government ca
Re:"When I left Spotify" (Score:5, Insightful)
To elaborate, Young's "argument" seems to be:
I have never been in favor of censorship. Private companies have the right to choose what they profit from, just as I can choose not to have my music support a platform that disseminates harmful information.
He makes no connection between the two sentences, because doing that disproves his first assertion.
Censorship [aclu.org], the suppression of words, images, or ideas that are 'offensive,' happens whenever some people succeed in imposing their personal political or moral values on others. Censorship can be carried out by the government as well as private pressure groups.
Censorship [wikipedia.org] is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments, private institutions and other controlling bodies.
When someone -- like Spotify -- rejects or removes content because of its message, that is censorship. Neil Young said he has never been in favor of censorship, but he issued an ultimatum for Spotify to censor Joe Rogan.
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Yeah, we've come a long way since 1985. HIV was only isolated in 1984, there wasn't a lot of understanding of it yet and the pandemic was exploding. There was both borderline public panic and both denialism and scapegoating was rife. Geeks who followed science news understood it was purely an STD, but people were worried about catching in through breathing contaminated air or surfaces. Even ten years after that I remember being at a public health conference and have non-science public officials insist y
Snowball effect (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Snowball effect (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, right-wing people across the country are deeply mourning the loss of Joni Mitchell from Spotify. However will they survive this massive blow to conservatism?
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You mean, people who will all be dead in 10 years, and mostly don't use Spotify anyway, assuming they've even heard of it. Yeah, don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya!
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I stand by what I said. Many Americans are stupid. And they are making serious effort to stay that way. Look at yourself - you've just randomly inserted Trump into conversation.
I cited a well documented study that shows the exact same kind of misinformation is killing right wing people 3-1, but I guess I should have assumed you were the very American you yourself were referring to.
Earlier you claimed that right wing will be upset because Joni Whatshername removed her music
Nope, lmafo you can’t read at a 2nd grade level? The sheer angst and fervor of your own post much less the hundred or so similar posts is simply further proof that free association and free markets hav
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Just them, or everyone? If everyone, you then sided with the cake bakery, correct?
Old man yells at cloud (Score:5, Funny)
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A tsunami or a ripple (Score:3, Interesting)
Sure, Young probably is not responsible for a lot of Spotify traffic, but already Joni Mitchell has announced she is joining him. Many younger artists are socially active and decidedly anti pandemic. Will someone like Taylor Swift join them? Will Spotify turn into a haven for RWNJ? Time will tell.
60% of Young's streaming revenue (Score:5, Interesting)
Whether you like Neil Young or not, he's at least willing to sacrifice something for principle, showing some rare character in this day and age.
I don't know much about Joe Rogan, except that he's in the news a lot and he used to be involved in mixed martial arts in some fashion. Without doing any more research, I'm confidently going to assume not listening to his medical advice makes me no less informed a person.
Re:60% of Young's streaming revenue (Score:5, Informative)
It's like you've never watched Joe Rogan before. He is about the nicest man ever. There's something for everyone on his channel, click here to check it out. His wheelhouse is MMA and comedy, but he interviews far and wide.
He's got Bari Weiss formerly of the New York Times, Joey Diaz, Robert Downey Jr., Jimmy Dore, Michael Malice (super interesting guy with his own channel [youtube.com]), Tulsi Gabbard, Edward Norton, Kevin Smith, Richard Dawkins, Edward Snowden (by Skype of course), Evander Holyfield, Roseanne Barr, Rob Zombie, Dan Ackroyd...there's something there for everyone. He likes to smoke weed and thinks politicians should have to take DMT before taking office. He is definitely on the left side of politics.
Casting him as some kind of neo-nazi is so dishonest I can't even. Shutting down people for speaking is not fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
It wasn't his medical advice. It was the doctor who invented mRNA vaccines. If you think not having opposition media and having the ruling class able to dictate what is and isn't the truth is a good idea, you're nuts. Journalism is printing what the powerful don't want printed, everything else is public relations. [youtu.be]
"There's nothing wrong with being a conservative. There's something wrong with wanting everyone to think the way you do, though."
-- Joe Rogan https://youtu.be/sCD9zjf_YRU?t=527 [youtu.be]
Re:60% of Young's streaming revenue (Score:4, Insightful)
Wish I had mod points today. This is one of the very few informative posts on this story.
Joe Rogan is a guy who does long-form interviews with various people. Politicians, musicians, doctors, pop culture stars, whomever. They sit down and talk about stuff and Joe asks questions. That's it. Wow.
Not a fan of Rogan myself (I have nothing against the guy, the style of his show just isn't for me), but I can recognize the value he brings, and he does give his listeners access to information that might otherwise not have. And sometimes he has people on who definitely run counter to the narrative we're all supposed to follow. Oh no, god forbid there's a different perspective on something!
I think Neil made a bad decision here, but whatever, his decision to make.
Re:60% of Young's streaming revenue (Score:5, Informative)
Rogan has got better lately, but there are still two issues.
1. He gives bad medical advice like advising young people not to get vaccinated.
2. He doesn't always challenge his guests on their BS. He's got better at it but still gives people way to much of a platform without much critical analysis of their position.
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1. The WHO also gives bad medical advice, like advising young people not to get vaccinated. Damn those antivaxers..
2. I assume by BS you mean 'things I dont agree with'. Rogan doesnt claim to be an expert, are you?
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Joe Rogan has taken a deep dive down the far right rabbit hole. His 4 hour interview with Jordan Peterson was probably the last straw for a lot of people. It was so divorced from reality it was insane. Rogan at least tried to push back a bit.
Inventing the mRNA vaccine doesn't make you immune from conspiracy theories and crackpot anti-vaxx silliness. The inventor of the transistor was a raging racist who people tolerated only because of his otherwise brilliant mind.
The problem with Joe Rogan is that he's
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That's 60% of "the" streaming revenue, not 60% of "his" revenue. He sold the majority share of his catalog just last year for ~$100M. Technically, the majority shareholders are losing the bulk of the streaming revenue, not him. But don't shed any tears for them. It was their decision.
Young and boomers: never trust anyone over 30 (Score:3)
Whether you like Neil Young or not, he's at least willing to sacrifice something for principle, showing some rare character in this day and age.
His is showing nothing but hypocrisy. He's just a has been from the 1960s/70s, he was 2nd tier even to the 80s generation, strictly a boomer thing. He's just going for some free press, struggling to be relevant once again.
Claiming to be free speech, anti-censorship, while demanding censorship of someone he disapproves of. What a hypocrite. Then again he's really old, as he and other boomers said in their youth, never trust anyone over 30. Perhaps they had a clue back in the 1960s.
I don't know much about Joe Rogan, except that he's in the news a lot and he used to be involved in mixed martial arts in some fashion. Without doing any more research, I'm confidently going to assume not listening to his medical advice makes me no less informed a person.
Your research will find
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Try freeyourmusic.com to effortlessly walk away (Score:5, Interesting)
Joe Rogan has 4x the tuned-in audience that Fox News enjoys nightly. It's not a free speech issue, they all do it for ratings and money. Rogan is just a shock jock (refer to: Fear Factor [imdb.com]). I'm leaving Spotify so as not to fund misinformation, which is a huge problem. Joe Rogan's, Spotify's, Fox News', and Facebook's business model is all about ears & eyeballs and money and honest, useful truth in the middle of a multi-year global pandemic is just something these massively profitable media organizations are unwilling to participate in. Why should I fund them? Good-bye Spotfiy!
Important context (Score:5, Insightful)
Neil Young had polio when he was a kid. He knows how essential vaccines are.
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Neil Young had polio when he was a kid. He knows how essential vaccines are.
This. most people my age (pushing 40) won't remember a time where dangerous diseases were a real risk of killing or permanently disabling (and disfiguring in the case of Polio) because we practically eliminated them with vaccines before we were even born.
The cases of measles and mumps in Australia were near non-existent in the 80's and 90's because everyone born then got vaccinated.
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Your source mostly contradicts you. The Salk injected vaccine was farmed out to several manufacturers. One, Cutter Laboratories, had a production defect that left live virus in the product. It was recalled after something like 15 days. The public conversation was between two rails of fear: of the disease, versus of the vaccine.
I got the Salk vaccine. The public was primed by FDR's post-polio disability, and by scenes of polio patients in "iron lung" tanks. As a young kid, if I asked a parent about th
Go Neil (Score:2)
Ain't singin' for Coke
Ain't singin' for nobody
Makes me look like a joke
not sure (Score:2, Insightful)
...Why anyone gives a shit about what some drugged out ancient rock star has to say, or any artist, particularly.
You make (or made) nice sounds. It doesn't really mean you know shit about anything else.
Why do the super rich think we care what they think?
Joni Mitchell just pulled her music (Score:3, Insightful)
And for the record, Rogan is not being silenced. He's a multi millionaire and there'll be plenty of space on the Internet for his mininformatative podcast.
I find it odd that the same folks who'll tell me that if you don't like what a business does you should vote with your dollars, but whenever anyone does that against somebody they don't like it's "cancel culture".
Shows how disingenuous the whole thing is.
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Censor people we hate or we'll remove our music
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It has been astonishing to watch Democrats justify this censorship on the grounds that private corporations are entitled to do whatever they want. Not even radical free-market libertarians espouse such a pro-corporate view. Even the most ardent capitalist recognizes that companies that wield power have an obligation to act in the public interest, and are answerable to the public regarding whether they are doing so.
Meanwhile, it's the so-called "tolerant" leftists that engage in censorship, whether it's over
Don't even understand why he's so upset. (Score:3, Informative)
`The needle and the damage done` gets a whole new meaning.
Anyways, Neil and his fans are feel to do as they see fit, but after watching some fragments that initiated this outrage, i'm not sure i understand why he's so upset. Dude interviews someone. Someone has an opinion. World keeps turning. Feels more he had an episode of nerd rage 'mom.. someone on the internet is wrong'.
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He doesn't like free speech.
Simple as that.
He exercised free speech right now. You can't have free speech without freedom of association. And why would someone who nearly died of polio want to remotely associate himself with an anti-vax shock jock?
Why is it you right wing people think freedom of speech means only *your* speech or the speech of those people you support?
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He should eat a Snickers. :)
I fail to see it being worth getting so angry over.
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When you nearly die as a child from a virus which we eliminated via vaccination, I feel like you may be upset to see someone spreading anti-vax bullshit on a platform that you also share.
World keeps turning.
The world has stopped turning for 880000 Americans and will stop turning for many more while misinformation gets spread.
Feels more he had an episode of nerd rage
No. Nerd rage is posting angrily on Slashdot about some virtue signalling bullshit. Not asking for your music to be pulled from the number one streaming site (directly affecting your income) because you ha
Neil probably lost fans more than anything (Score:2)
Lots of people like me grew up to Neil Young and saw him as an outsider not beholden to the establishment. That was part of his appeal. Well now he is an angry old man in the establishment and wants to silence entertainers that say stuff he does not like. He has evolved into his own enemy.
I am fully vaccinated and boosted and will continue to take the advice of my doctor. Myself and anyone with a brain is not going to listen to Joe Rogan for medical advice. That does not mean he should be canceled, He is an
Snowden got it right (Score:3, Insightful)
"Nobody has stronger opinions about Joe Rogan than people who have never listened to Joe Rogan."
Who is Neil Young? (Score:5, Funny)
Was this like the guy who has a footprint on the moon?
Spotify is heavily invested in disinformation (Score:3)
Spotify has paid Joe Rogan $100,000,000 - that's high-end fighter jet money - for the exclusive rights to host his disinformation-riddled bro spiel with his chosen asshat of the week on their system. Every pop star would've had to join in on a threat to leave to make them consider selling or ditching that investment.
The funny thing is that the roots of Rogan's apparent love of disinformation come from his desire to be able to sit down and discuss topics like a normal average Joe while knowing precisely jack shit about them...in front of half a zillion people. He started out like your neighbor who's not really a bad guy but believes some dumb shit and often talks out of his ass, just with his reach turned up to a planetary scale. And his affinity for disinformation seems to be bringing him closer and closer to fascism over time, to the point that he's now invited Jordan Peterson onto his show quite recently. He may soon be like PewDiePie, in that he could be one of the alt-right's greatest assets whether he realizes it or not.
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I assume you are not from the US, or into US popular culture, otherwise you'd know how big he is with certain demographics. There are many fans into Young - although, somewhat ironically mostly not young themselves.
Outside of 'murica. (Score:4, Insightful)
I assume you are not from the US, or into US popular culture,
Funnily, I don't live in the US, but I heard about Young and heard his music in the past (e.g. concert recording played of the radio).
Meanwhile, I haven't even registered Rogan's name until the current debacle about his podcasts.
I guess that rock musicians export better than some random moron with a microphone.
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That "random moron with a microphone" has hosted several popular television shows, and run the most popular Spotify podcast out there. He's no rocket scientist (and doesn't pretend to be), but he knows how to ask the questions that the general public would be interested in.
And I 100% disagree with him on Covid.
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you'd know how big he is with certain demographics.
He is also unpopular with certain demographics:
"I hope Neil Young will remember, a Southern man don't need him around anyhow." -- Lynyrd Skynyrd
Re:Neil who? (Score:5, Insightful)
While I love that song, it's also pertinent to remember that the reason Southerners didn't like Young was that he spoke out against segregation and racism. Neil was right then, and he's still right today.
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Neil Young has the appearance of the archetypal Trumper with 27 guns and a RAM pickup.
But Young just looks like it. The critical difference here is that Rogan is the one who actually has the brain of an archetypal Trumper with 27 guns and a RAM pickup.
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That's an offense to meatheads.
Re: Neil who? (Score:4, Insightful)
He's not the style of music I'm really into, but claiming not to have heard of him only demonstrates your ignorance of the music industry.
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Re: Neil who? (Score:2)
Johannes Brahms' heyday was 130 years ago, if you're not a pile of dust then you've probably never heard of him.
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Classical music is being cancelled because it was written by white males and is therefore racist. [aestheticsforbirds.com]
"Is classical music racist? Following the events of the summer of 2020 that exposed for many the depth of systemic racism within the justice system, people of color and their allies have raised the issue of racism in countless artistic and academic fields, classical music being no exception. Writing in the New Yorker in regard to classical music's belated self-criticism, the critic Alex Ross admitted "such an [newyorker.com]
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I'd imagine that 90% of the people complaining to Spotify don't give a damn about Neil Young or even listen to his music. They just hate Joe Rogan.
Re: Neil who? (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes he does.
I am no Neil Yong fan... but he'll be remembered long after Joe Rogan has well and truly disappeared up his own arse and been forgotten.
Young has had a huge influence in music over his career which has spanned decades. Even if you don't like him, he's earned respect.
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"earned respect"
And then lost it over night because he had a difference of opinion. Yeah he sounds like a great guy.
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I will pitch a fit and demand they censor the shit out of the bad thoughts
He made no such demand. He only demanded that his own songs be removed.
Re: Neil who? (Score:5, Informative)
Did you just make that up? Did you even take a minute to check? It was in his demand letter to his manager that sparked this whole thing, which he posted publicly. Nearly every article references this. None of what you said is true at all.
https://www.rollingstone.com/m... [rollingstone.com]
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-cu... [nbcnews.com]
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I think many of us can think of at least one person we would not choose to be at the same party with. Is *THAT* an ultimatum too or is it just a choice?
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Re: Neil who? (Score:4, Interesting)
The problem is Spotify has to choose is they want to be a music service, or a political podcast. They chose to do both and they imported all the dirty politics into their service, which also means annoying some artists who are not into politics, or at from another party.
Personally I would not pay for a service about my favorite hobby, say clay pottery or art photography or music, that suddenly turns into a place for political fight that generate unrelated heated debates like this one. I subscribe to a music service to help my peace of mind, not to destroy it.
Conversely, if I ran a music service, I would make the political podcast a separate product.
Re: Neil who? (Score:4, Insightful)
I WILL NOT pay for someone to be my thought police. I will hear all sides of an argument, and make up my own damn mind.
You might believe this is true but it manifestly is not. You wouldn't listen to a station that devoted 50% of its time to APK and his hosts files, the rancid assholes guy who was active here a decade ago, moon hoaxers, flat earthers, young Earth creationists and the type of people who's side of the "argument" is that Jews should be exterminated.
That's because you don't want to listen to the "other side" from a bunch of morons, and you'd actually rather have "thought police" filter out the utter garbage, because your time is limited.
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I'm always a little confused when people make that point. It's as if they believed that free speech only went one degree. One person is allowed to say something, but then the people who respond to that violate the first person's freedom of speech.
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The problem here is that Neil is trying to silence those who disagree. That's not how it works.
And for the record, I think Joe's position on the topic is stunningly stupid.
Re: Neil who? (Score:5, Insightful)
Indeed he will be remembered. He will be remembered for being a hypocritical douche bag. "I support free speech* (* as long as it is speech I agree with. Otherwise I will pitch a fit and demand they censor the shit out of the bad thoughts)" - Neil Douche Young 2022 I dont even like JR but fuck Neil Young. He was an asshole back in the 70s and is still one now.
So basically what you are whining about is that he is doing the exact same thing you and your ilk are doing when you pitch a fit and demand they censor the shit out of the bad thoughts that make you scurry for a safe space like: evolution, vaccines, hygiene, socialism, green M&Ms, Islam, Judaism, Atheism, any mention of slavery in US history, homosexuals, gender equality, democracy ... , etc, etc, ad nauseam.
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So what you're saying is that Niel Young should be forced to stay on a platform that promotes views he strongly disagrees with? Or are you saying he should be silenced? I can't figure out which but both would be massive violations of his own rights.
Nobody is arguing Neil does not have the right to pull his shit from spotify or try and get other people kicked off or any such thing. Nobody is making that case.
The issue here is just because you can do something it doesn't automatically follow you should. When members of society are so unwilling to tolerate speech they disagree they would use their position and power as leverage to attempt to silence others then the freedom of everyone even to engage in pure speech is reduced which is dangerous and dama
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Neil was quite clear his grievance was with Spotify, he was not comfortable with Spotify profiting off of his music at the same time it was profiting off of Rogan's views. Neil stated they could profit off one or the other but not both so choose. Spotify chose Joe and Neil said great and goodbye.
That seems like a very reasonable exercise of freedom of speech.
I really and truly fail to see the problem here, all parties exercised their freedom of speech. You and others here seem to be the only ones stating that somebody, ie Neil Young, shouldn't have exercised his freedoms in the way that he did.
The problem is not about what someone is allowed to do it is what they elected to do. The idea of not wanting to be on the same platform as someone else demonstrates intolerance of people with the different opinions than your own.
Joe has nothing to do with Neil but nonetheless Neil does not even want to be seen in the same room as him so he decides to leverage his power to make the host choose between Neil and Joe.
You can characterize this any way you want but if it ends up with why should he not be allowe
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Spotify isn't a discussion forum. Its a for-profit audio service.
Not relevant to issue at hand.
Refusing to have your music on that service denies your own revenue streams and does nothing else.
Here action is not relevant. The reason it was done is the relevant point. In this case the reason was clearly intentional boycott of Joe Rogan.
Saying that the reason you 've done that brings attention to the reason you acted. It does nothing else.
The reason is what matters.
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Apples | oranges.
You are wrong. (Score:3, Insightful)
Free speech has limits - for example it is (sensibly) not legal to use free speech to rouse a n angry mob to kill someone.
However this is NOT about Neils free speech - thats NOT what he was exercising.
He was trying to user a direct financial treat to limit someone ELSES free speech. THAT is a whole different thing.
Using his free speech would be perhaps penning a song against Rogan, or to promote, compliance with his side, or whatever.
Its all rather pathetic that someone who was a huge proponent of anti esta
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Yes he does.
This isn't about fans. It's purely about politics, like everything else today.
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Even if said jeans or shoes were made by forced child labor? (There was never such a time.)
Re:The way the ball bounces. (Score:5, Insightful)
This is what happens when you inject your politics into something non-political.
Wait, what? First of all, Young has long been a political artist. Second, he was protesting a political pod-cast. Third, Spotify is profiting from the pod cast, and was from Young's music.
Nobody is injecting politics here. The whole thing is predicated on politics.
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>"Young has long been a political artist."
He should stick to making music available to those who want it and stop trying to use it as a "moral weapon".
>" Second, he was protesting a political pod-cast. Third, Spotify is profiting from the pod cast, and was from Young's music."
OMG, Walmart sells gas lawnmowers, they profit off destroying the earth, so I refuse to sell my hand soap there. OMG, Target sells meat products, so I refuse to sell my soy crackers there. OMG, Amazon sells gun holsters, so I r
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It is ridiculous.
No, it's free market capitalism.
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OMG, Walmart sells gas lawnmowers, they profit off destroying the earth, so I refuse to sell my hand soap there. OMG, Target sells meat products, so I refuse to sell my soy crackers there. OMG, Amazon sells gun holsters, so I refuse to sell my "I don't believe guns held by good people save tons more lives than those killed by bad people, even though it is a fact" bumper stickers there.
That of course would be just fine, and your right.
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Re:The way the ball bounces. (Score:4, Insightful)
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I>" can't help but wonder if hordes of anti-Roganites who have never even listened to Neil Young are exploiting this opportunity by piling onto the support boards along with Neil Young fans in order to put pressure on Spotify to axe Rogan."
Possibly, Or it is a virtue-signaling stunt done, intentionally, to try and get exposure for Neil Young to increase his listening base. Who knows. I just know I go to Spotify to listen to stuff and don't want Spotify or other artists there trying to dictate what I c
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I feel ZERO sympathy for Young.
That's good. Neil Young asked for none and wasn't expecting any. Why you would think that your feeling of sympathy is required for someone doing exactly what they want is beyond me.
This is what happens when you inject your politics into something non-political.
Also how did you go through life without ever listening to music? Or are you daft enough to think the music industry hasn't always been highly political? Your post speaks more to your ignorance than anything else.
There was a time, not long ago, where I could buy whatever jeans or shoes, or shop at whatever store, and not worry that I would be "supporting" something that would oppress me or support some political "cause."
No there wasn't. Every place you've ever shopped has said something about you and how you align with society around yo
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Re:Bad for Business (Score:5, Informative)
Joe Rogan's deal with Spotify was announced around 2020-05-19 Spotify's stock price on 2020-05-21 was 190. What did it recently close at? 195.
So no, it has not lost half its stock price since signing Joe.
Re:Bad for Business (Score:4, Informative)
Joe Rogan's first Spotify podcast was on September 1, 2020, and the Spotify stock price was $279. Today, it sits at $172.98.
https://www.google.com/search?... [google.com]
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Re: Fucking wumao (Score:2)
This isn't an airport. There is no need to announce your departure.
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Sounds more entertaining than listening to the music aging Laurel Canyon hippies, anyway. But so is watching the paint dry.