Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young reunite – against Spotify
Despite rift, former bandmates join Neil Young in asking their labels to remove their recordings from the streaming platform over COVID misinformation
Neil Young’s former bandmates from Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young said Wednesday they had asked their labels to remove their recordings from Spotify, making them the latest musicians to take a stand over misinformation on the platform.
Last week, Young made good on his vow to have his music removed from Spotify after demanding that the streaming service choose between him and controversial podcaster Joe Rogan, with fellow folk rock superstar Joni Mitchell following suit.
“We support Neil and we agree with him that there is dangerous disinformation being aired on Spotify’s Joe Rogan podcast,” the joint statement from David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash read.
“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.”
Young was a part of the folk rock supergroup for a few years straddling the 1960s and 1970s, with their hits including “Woodstock,” “Our House” and “Teach Your Children.” But Young and the other band members have had repeated public spats and clashes over the years, and dissolved their partnership once again in 2015 in a bitter dispute.
Crosby, Stills and Nash said that in addition to the band’s recordings being removed, Nash has started the process to take down his solo recordings. Crosby and Stills are also requesting the removal of their solo projects, the statement said.
In response to the controversy, Spotify — which has a $100 million multi-year exclusive deal with Rogan, who has discouraged vaccination in young people — said over the weekend that it would add a “content advisory” to podcast episodes that discuss COVID-19.
