On January 28th, acclaimed singer, songwriter and lonely painter Joni Mitchell announced she would pull her music off of Spotify in solidarity with Neil Young, who was protesting Spotify’s allowance of Joe Rogan’s podcast that spread dangerous COVID-19 misinformation.
It has been a month since Mitchell’s music has been off the platform, and with the Joe Rogan Experience persisting, I can’t help but wonder if Mitchell’s choice actually did anything. With numerous Grammys, as a Kennedy Center Honors recipient and previously having over 3.7 million monthly listeners on Spotify, it’s clear that she has influence, but I can’t help but wondering if her fans, especially those like me who depend on Spotify as their music source, deserve to be the ones punished.
When Joni Mitchell left Spotify she wrote, “Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives… I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.” I do not object to this, in fact I support her. I know that at the age of nine, she contracted Polio — vaccines are everything. I also think it is great when artists use their platforms, but I wonder about her contradictory choice to keep her music on YouTube, which claims to have cracked down on COVID misinformation. I remain skeptical, as they made their decision to disallow misinformation in late September of 2021, more than a year after the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Spotify does have its problems. It takes at least 10 million streams to make minimum wage, which is not sustainable for artists who aren’t as big as Mitchell or Young, so I also see the irony with it being my main music streaming service. I am also deeply disappointed that Spotify cares more about money than people’s lives; Rogan’s podcast is supposedly worth over $200 million.
In 2021, Joni Mitchell was my #3 top listened to artists and was on track to be my #1 this year. Selfishly, I miss her music. No one gets it like she does:
“You laugh,” he said, “You think you’re immune
Go look at your eyes, they’re full of moon
You like roses and kisses and pretty men to tell you
All those pretty lies, pretty lies
When you gonna realise they’re only pretty lies?
Only pretty lies, just pretty lies”
(The Last Time I Saw Richard)
I’m right there with Mitchell and Young. As a journalism student who’s spent sufficient time studying countries with governments that control the media, I know that free speech saves lives, but during the time of this pandemic, it took too many lives.
And one of the only things recently that made me feel hopeful was listening to Joni Mitchell.