David Crosby, Stephen Stills & Graham Nash Join Neil Young’s Spotify Boycott
David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash have joined their former bandmate Neil Young in calling for their music to be pulled from Spotify.
“We support Neil and we agree with him that there is dangerous disinformation being aired on Spotify’s Joe Rogan podcast,” a statement from the band released on Wednesday, 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.”
The three men have asked their music labels to remove their collective and solo recordings from the music streaming service.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young have a tumultuous history, which makes them joining together all the more noteworthy. The band originally began as Crosby, Stills & Nash, before adding Young. Tensions in the band led to a breakup, but they’ve gotten back together in various formations over the years.
On Tuesday, Nash joined Young’s cause, when he asked Spotify to remove his solo music due what medical professionals have said is COVID-19 misinformation shared on Rogan’s Spotify podcast.
“Having heard the Covid disinformation spread by Joe Rogan on Spotify, I completely agree with and support my friend, Neil Young and I am requesting that my solo recordings be removed from the service,” Nash said in a statement obtained by TheWrap.
His statement continued: “There is a difference between being open to varying viewpoints on a matter and knowingly spreading false information which some 270 medical professionals have derided as not only false but dangerous. Likewise, there is a difference between misinformation, in which one is unaware that what is being said is false, versus disinformation which is knowingly false and intended to mislead and sway public opinion. The opinions publicized by Rogan are so dishonest and unsupported by solid facts that Spotify becomes an enabler in a way that costs people their lives.”
Last week, Young demanded Spotify remove his music from the service, saying he did not want to be associated with a platform that hosts “The Joe Rogan Experience,” which he said spreads “fake information about vaccines.”
“I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them,” he wrote.
Spotify removed Young’s music.
Other artists who asked Spotify to remove their music or content from the service include Joni Mitchell, Nils Lofgren (who is part of Young’s band Crazy Horse), author and speaker Brené Brown, and podcaster and author Mary Trump.
For his part, Rogan issued an apology during a 10-minute video posted to his social media channels on Monday. During his commentary, though, he also said some people may have “a distorted perception” of him “based on sound bites or based on headlines of articles that are disparaging.”
“The problem that I have with misinformation, especially today, is that many of the things that we thought of as misinformation just a short while ago are now accepted as fact,” Rogan said.
Over the weekend, Spotify announced that a disclaimer will now air before Rogan’s show.
A rep for Spotify didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from TheWrap on Wednesday about the latest requests.