Neil Young asks Spotify employees to leave the streaming giant: “The only goals stated by EK are about numbers – not art, not creativity”

Author Samuel Järvinen - 8.2.2022

The latest Spotify debate revolves around the popular podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, after veteran musician Neil Young removed his catalog from Spotify after the streaming service allowed Rogan’s podcast to spread “anti-vaccine lies” on its platform. The debate has also been sparked by the service’s updated rules, which ban “sexually explicit content” and “content that encourages the sale of drugs”, among other things, in the future.

Neil Young, who has now removed his music from Spotify, has published an open letter appealing to Spotify employees. Young hopes that Spotify employees will realise that they should resign “before Spotify eats up your soul”.

Young writes the following:

“To the musicians and creators in the world, I say this: You must be able to find a better place than Spotify to be the home of your art.
To the workers at Spotify, I say Daniel Ek is your big problem – not Joe Rogan. Ek pulls the strings. Get out of that place before it eats up your soul. The only goals stated by EK are about numbers – not art, not creativity. Notice that EK never mentions the Medical Professionals who started this conversation. Look, one last time at the statements EK has made. Then be free and take the good path.”