Neil Young Steers Fans To Amazon Music After Pulling Music From Spotify Due To COVID Misinformation

Mumford & Sons member Winston Marshall has written a piece for Bari Weiss’ Substack criticising artists taking action against Spotify.In the essay entitled ‘When Artists Become the Censors’, Marshall takes aim at those he believes are threatening free speech, including Neil Young, who recently pulled his music from Spotify.On January 24, Young published an open letter – which has since been deleted – expressing his feelings about content like the Joe Rogan Experience podcast “spreading false information about vaccines”. This sparked a wider protest, with the likes of Joni Mitchell and Crazy Horse member Nils Lofgren following suit.“Something resembling a bottom-up authoritarianism has become the norm,” Marshall writes in the essay.

Spotify has reportedly removed 70 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience that see the comedian using racist slurs.However, the controversial episodes about vaccine misinformation are still available to listen to despite Neil Young and Joni Mitchell removing their music from the platform.Yesterday (February 4) India.Aria shared a compilation of clips that featured Rogan using the N-word repeatedly and describing a Black neighbourhood as being similar to the Planet Of The Apes movie.Earlier in the week, the singer announced they too were pulling their music from Spotify, citing their hosting of Rogan’s podcast and his “language around race” as the reasons why.#DeleteSpotify Clarity: Artist give their LIVES making music that streams for a 28th of a penny. Yes 28th of a penny.

Ellise Shafer Variety parent company Penske Media and sister brand Rolling Stone have acquired a majority interest in the Life Is Beautiful music festival.Founded in 2013 by the late Tony Hsieh, former CEO of Zappos, Life Is Beautiful is an annual music and arts festival in Las Vegas, Nev. Its most recent installment in 2021 boasted Billie Eilish, Green Day and Tame Impala as headliners and drew over 170,000 attendees.

The Worst Person in the World. The , now in theaters, kicks off with Julie (Renate Reinsve) diving headfirst into a quarter-life crisis. A student in Oslo, Norway, she switches from surgery to psychology to photography, changing up her hair color with every shift. We are told via voice over—the film is divided up into “chapters” that telegraph the stages of her growth—that Julie was once a hard-working, straight-A type, but that the macro issues of the world (The news! The environment!) and the micro-distractions of cell phones and social media have set her somewhat adrift.

Chris Willman Music WriterMitski Miyawaki’s rise through the indie rock ranks is the stuff of envy, even if she herself seems to be of two minds as to whether it should be. The 31-year-old’s most recent albums, 2016’s “Puberty 2” and 2018’s “Be the Cowboy,” earned spots on countless best-of lists, millions of streams, and TikTok meme-ification, thanks to an enthralling ability to locate unexpected wild emotions in gentle moments and deliver them in poetic yet memorable hooks.

Spotify over comments made on his podcast.Neil Young was the first to pull his music due to Rogan spreading “misinformation” about COVID-19, with Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash following in solidarity.Spotify CEO Daniel Ek responded to the row in an official statement, saying that Spotify would be adding COVID-19 content advisories to all relevant podcast episodes and Rogan himself has publicly addressed the backlash in a post discussing “some of the controversy that’s been going on over the past few days”.Now, Stewart has waded into the row on his own podcast The Problem With Jon Stewart saying artists’ actions towards Rogan were “a mistake”.“There’s no question that there is egregious misinformation that’s purposeful and hateful, and that being moderated is a credit to the platforms that run them,” Stewart said. “But this overreaction to Rogan, I think, is a mistake.”He pointed to an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience in which Rogan argued with Australian media personality Josh Szeps about whether COVID-19 itself or its vaccine was more likely to make patients vulnerable to myocarditis.When the two disagreed, Rogan offered to look it up, and when he was proven wrong he accepted it.As a result, Stewart believed that Rogan was open to other opinions and urged artists not to not “leave, abandon or censor” but instead “engage”.Meanwhile, India.Arie has become one of the latest artists to leave Spotify over Rogan’s “language around race”.

India.Arie has shared clips of Joe Rogan referring to Black neighbourhoods as “Planet of the Apes” and using the N-word in several episodes.This follows the singer’s recent announcement about leaving Spotify, citing their hosting of Rogan’s podcast and his “language around race” as the reasons why she pulled her music from the platform.Arie has now shared more about her decision, referring to specific episodes in the below video.“He shouldn’t even be uttering the word. Don’t even say it, under any context.

Former Mumford & Sons band member Winston Marshall released a lengthy essay comparing calls for action against Joe Rogan’s podcast on Spotify to Soviet-era censorship.  On Thursday, Marshall released an essay on Substack with the title "When Artists Become the Censors" in which he criticizes artists like Neil Young, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Joni Mitchell, Nils Lofgren and India Arie, all of whom have pulled their music off Spotify until it addresses misinformation on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast.  In his essay, Marshall begins by discussing the state of music censorship in the Soviet Union in 1984 before comparing it to the conditions that Spotify is facing today as calls for it to pull Rogan’s work mount. He even called out Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who previously voiced their "concerns" about misinformation on Spotify.  "Of course, Spotify is a private company; they’re under no obligation to platform anybody.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSpotify’s staff was up in arms about the company and co-founder/CEO Daniel Ek’s defense of Joe Rogan in a town hall meeting Wednesday that followed its middling quarterly report and subsequent stock drop, according to a report in the Verge that cites a leaked audio recording of the meeting.In Ek’s 15-minute speech, he positioned the company as both a platform and publisher, saying that “There are many things that Joe Rogan says that I strongly disagree with and find very offensive,” he said, but defended the company’s relationship with the controversial podcaster by stating, “If we want even a shot at achieving our bold ambitions, it will mean having content on Spotify that many of us may not be proud to be associated with. Not anything goes, but there will be opinions, ideas, and beliefs that we disagree with strongly and even makes us angry or sad.” Reps for Spotify did not immediately respond to Variety‘s requests for comment.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has defended the streaming platform, saying “it’s too early to know” the impact of the recent Joe Rogan row on the company’s future.Earlier this month, hundreds of scientists and medical professionals asked Spotify to address COVID misinformation on its platform, sparked by comments made on The Joe Rogan Experience.More than 270 members of the science and medical community signed the open letter, which called Rogan’s actions “not only objectionable and offensive but also medically and culturally dangerous”.The situation then made headline news, with Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Crazy Horse member Nils Lofgren and more pulling their music from the service after Young sparked a protest against the misinformation being spread about the virus on Rogan’s Spotify original podcast.Other public figures also weighed in on the debate, with Catherine Mayer – the widow of Gang Of Four‘s Andy Gill – criticising Spotify for platforming anti-vax sentiments. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, meanwhile, said in a statement that they had expressed concerns about misinformation to Spotify last year.

Prime Video has released the official key art for the upcoming fourth season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. It features a self-confident and determined Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) who looks ready to take on whatever comes her way. See it below.

Manchester’s New Century Hall, which once played host to the likes of Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones, will re-open as a live music venue and arts space this summer.

Dua Lipa has today launched her “global style, arts and culture newsletter” called Service95.The free platform was announced last November and will be released weekly to subscribers – you can sign up here. Talking about the venture, Lipa said: “I find huge joy in telling people what I’ve learned about in any given city and love finding connection in our shared experiences.

COVID which have been articulated on his podcast.Earlier this month, hundreds of scientists and medical professionals asked Spotify to address COVID misinformation on its platform, sparked by comments made on The Joe Rogan Experience.More than 270 members of the science and medical community signed the open letter, which called Rogan’s actions “not only objectionable and offensive but also medically and culturally dangerous”.Rogan took to social media on Monday (January 31) to publicly address the backlash himself in a post discussing “some of the controversy that’s been going on over the past few days”.He told fans on Instagram: “I don’t always get it right. I will do my best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people perspectives so we can maybe find a better point of view.A post shared by Joe Rogan (@joerogan)Admitting that it is a “strange responsibility to have this many views and listeners,” he promised “to do my best in the future to balance things out.”Supporting Rogan in the comments of his post, Dwayne Johnson wrote: “Great stuff here brother.

PETER Andre and his wife Emily looked ridiculously loved-up as they posed together on a day out. The 48-year-old singer and the NHS doctor looked stronger than ever in a new selfie, which he simply captioned with a love heart.

Daniel Ek is opening up about the controversy surrounding Spotify in a conference call which announced new quarterly numbers.

Crosby, Stills & Nash have joined a growing number of acts who’ve demanded that their music be removed from Spotify amid the COVID controversy involving Joe Rogan.Members of the disbanded folk supergroup, which when joined by Neil Young were known as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, have thrown their support behind Young who last month said that he wanted all his music pulled from the streaming platform.Young took particular aim at controversial podcaster Joe Rogan – a prominent skeptic of the COVID vaccine who has a $100million exclusivity contract with Spotify – pointing out the widespread misinformation shared through his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience.Spotify complied with Young’s request, also announcing in a statement that it would add content advisories to all relevant podcast episodes.Now, Crosby, Stills & Nash have revealed their decision to back Young (Nash had already given his support to Young).pic.twitter.com/yyhHTQi7fm— David Crosby (@thedavidcrosby) February 2, 2022“We support Neil and we agree with him that there is dangerous disinformation being aired on Spotify’s Joe Rogan podcast,” the group wrote in a joint statement shared via Crosby’s social media.“While we always value alternate points of view, knowingly spreading disinformation during this global pandemic has deadly consequences.

Spotify said monthly active users rose 18% to 404 million for the fourth quarter of 2021 as premium subscribers hit 183 million and revenue grew 24%. It reported numbers as controversy swirls around Joe Rogan.

In a letter to members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences today, Academy CEO Dawn Hudson said the organization had the “highest ever participation during voting at any time in the Academy’s history”.  She notes ballots were submitted from 82 countries (from 9487 eligible voters who could participate)  and makes a continued plug to use the Academy Screening Room for viewing contenders and “extra” content  going forward in the season, especially since this the first year physical DVD screeners have been banned, mostly for environmental concerns.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOn Wednesday (Feb. 2), nearly a week after Joni Mitchell requested for her music to be removed from Spotify, several of her albums remain available on the streaming service.

India Arie is opening up on her decision to withdraw her music and “SongVersation” podcast from Spotify following controversy over Joe Rogan’s involvement with the platform.

Clayton Davis The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) will reveal its nominations tomorrow and we’re expecting anarchy, at least in the acting categories.Beefing up its membership considerably over the last few years, and instituting jury methods to the voting process in performance and director categories last year, yielded an unexpected field of contenders that may or may not have a rippling influence on the Oscars race.Notable actors are looking for boosts from the British voting bloc, including Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Power of the Dog”), Andrew Garfield (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye” and “Tick, Tick … Boom!”) and Nicole Kidman (“Being the Ricardos”).Following the results of a diversity review, the group threw the awards season for a loop with surprise selections like Radha Blank and Adarsh Gourav last year. The top two vote-getters from Round One are automatic nominees, but we don’t know who those individuals are, nor is it clear if the jury knows either.Some leading contenders eyeing their first BAFTA nomination are Denzel Washington (“The Tragedy of Macbeth”), who, despite two Oscar wins with eight total noms, has never been recognized by his colleagues across the pond.

Claudia Eller Co-Editor-in-ChiefWhen Neil Young pulled his music from Spotify over the audio streamer’s continued support of Joe Rogan, whom he accused of spreading “misinformation and lies” about COVID via his podcast interviews, there were some nasty “who cares?” tweets directed at the folk-rock icon. But the haters should care that this deadly pandemic has been raging for nearly two years and it ain’t over yet.Young has been adamant for some time that artists shouldn’t be touring because of COVID; he even pulled out of a Farm Aid benefit, a charity he co-founded.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDavid Crosby and Stephen Stills have joined Neil Young and Graham Nash in asking their labels to remove their collective recordings from Spotify.According to the announcement, in support of stopping harmful misinformation about Covid-19 on Joe Rogan’s Spotify-hosted podcast, the musicians have decided to remove their records from the streaming platform including the recordings of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; Crosby, Stills & Nash and Crosby-Nash, as well as Crosby’s and Stills’ solo projects. Nash has already begun the process to take down his solo recordings.In a unified statement, the band members commented, “We support Neil and we agree with him that there is dangerous disinformation being aired on Spotify’s Joe Rogan podcast. While we always value alternate points of view, knowingly spreading disinformation during this global pandemic has deadly consequences. Until real action is taken to show that a concern for humanity must be balanced with commerce, we don’t want our music – or the music we made together – to be on the same platform.” Reps for Spotify did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.Following a similar request by Joni Mitchell, the move reunites the five artists, who have been friends and collaborators since the 1960s, in a stance that they certainly could not have imagined 50 years ago.

Stewart Lee is the latest artist to remove his work from Spotify in protest of COVID misinformation being spread on Joe Rogan’s podcast.Earlier this month, hundreds of scientists and medical professionals asked Spotify to address COVID misinformation on its platform, sparked by comments made on The Joe Rogan Experience.More than 270 members of the science and medical community signed the open letter, which called Rogan’s actions “not only objectionable and offensive but also medically and culturally dangerous”.Spotify previously hosted Lee’s stand-up albums ’41s Best Stand Up Ever’, ‘If You Prefer A Milder Comedian Please Ask For One’ and ‘Carpet Remnant World’.Announcing his decision to boycott the platform, he said in a statement obtained by Chortle: “I am fully aware this will make no financial difference to Spotify whatsoever, but for too long internet platforms have been able to spread lies with impunity, free from the checks and balances that govern traditional publishers and broadcasters, and their efforts to correct this still do not go for enough.“Perhaps artists big and small can band together to do something to change this where the money men won’t.”Rogan publicly addressed the backlash himself recently, in a new video where he discusses “some of the controversy that’s been going on over the past few days.”He told fans on Instagram: “I don’t always get it right.

COVID vaccines.The actor hit out at the podcaster in light of COVID misinformation spreading on his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, which Rogan works on in an exclusive deal with Spotify.More than 270 members of the science and medical community signed an open letter, which called Rogan’s actions “not only objectionable and offensive but also medically and culturally dangerous”.“COVID is not an opinion-based situation and Mr Rogan thinking that his opinion or disclaimer for the lives he personally has affected and caused losses of – it’s not an opinion,” Stone said to TMZ.“Mr Rogan is risking people’s lives with his idiocy and his professing that his thoughts about COVID are opinions.“Infectious diseases are science, and they are fact-based situations, so the pretence that these are opinions is dangerous.“He should put a disclaimer that he’s an asshole and that his behaviour is dangerous and affecting people’s lives and deaths.”Rogan publicly responded to the situation earlier this week (January 31), as many artists have started removing their music from Spotify in protest.In a video clip posted to Instagram, Rogan addressed “some of the controversy that’s been going on over the past few days”.He told fans: “I don’t always get it right. I will do my best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people perspectives so we can maybe find a better point of view.”Admitting that it is a “strange responsibility to have this many views and listeners,” he promised “to do my best in the future to balance things out”.

Sharon Stone sounded off on Joe Rogan over the way he’s approaching the COVID-19 misinformation controversy surrounding his show. Rogan’s exclusive deal with Spotify has been in the crosshairs of various critics in the last week after Neil Young announced that he was pulling his library of music from the platform unless it addressed the misinformation about the pandemic and vaccines being promoted by Rogan as well as guests on his show.

Simu Liu will be hosting this year’s Juno Awards.

Whoopi Goldberg, 66, has been suspended from The View for two weeks due to her controversial statements about the Holocaust. The co-host and moderator had faced major backlash after she had said that the Holocaust was “not about race,” during a discussion about schools banning Art Spiegelman’s Maus. Despite her multiple apologies, ABC opted to suspend the co-host.

Naveen Kumar In answer to the question of whether it’s possible to separate the art from the artist, “MJ” performs a slick, crotch-grabbing sidestep. Packed with nearly 40 hits from Michael Jackson’s irresistible catalogue, the Broadway production from director and choreographer Christopher Wheeldon is not so much a biomusical as a high-shine and surface-skimming rehabilitation tour for its late subject, flattening rather than reckoning with his complex legacy.“With respect, I wanna keep this about my music,” insists Jackson early on, played in the story’s present day by Myles Frost, impressive in perhaps an impossible role.

Zack Sharf Dwayne Johnson commended Joe Rogan on Instagram (via Newsweek) after the controversial podcast host issued a statement on his spread of COVID misinformation. Johnson even told Rogan that he “looks forward” to coming on the podcast one day and “breaking out the tequila with you.” The controversy over Rogan’s podcast resulted in artists such as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell removing their music from Spotify, citing Rogan’s damaging spread of COVID misinformation.

India Arie has drawn a line in the sand against the popular digital streaming platform Spotify.Alongside Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and other COVID-19 anti-misinformation advocates, Arie made a statement via Instagram, stating that she wants her music – as well as her podcast – pulled from Spotify, citing issues with Joe Rogan and interviews stemming from The Joe Rogan Experience.“I have decided to pull my music and podcast from Spotify,” Arie wrote in an emotional post on IG. “Neil Young opened a door that I MUST walk through.