Neil Young returns to Spotify as other streaming services begin hosting "disinformation podcasts": "I cannot leave all those services because my music would have no outlet to music lovers at all" : music

[–] [email protected] 35 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I feel kind of bad for him that he wasnt backed up by his peers. You've got musicians and small labels in-fighting over the tiny amount of money spotify pay that they wont challenge the site for fear of their income being pulled. Spotify is evil for music. When they side with conspiracy theorists who have no evidence it sends another message - they're income is worth more than what you all need, and that includes your personal safety.

Spotify is not alone. This started with Youtube/Google. They made changes some 10 or more years ago where algorithms were put in place that selected outrageousness over accuracy. This has allowed Rogan and others to make money off the adrevs, the sponsorships and the memberships. Their reach has sprawled into not just those two sites, but social media, TV and radio, magazines and news articles... its more religion than truth.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

He was backed up by a few at first, notably Crosby, Stills, and Nash. But even they came back within a few months

[–] [email protected] 23 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

My Plex Server doesn't host any "disinformation podcasts" and is primarily full of music I bought the physical media for and ripped myself, thus ensuring that the recording artist was paid more that $0.0001 per song.

Buy physical media, buy the tracks directly from the artists, or just pirate the shit and donate to their favorite charity or something. Using Spotify is just about as bad as piracy.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago

Tidal doesn't host podcasts and has great quality. Also, sell high quality digital tracks on your own site or through bandcamp, people will buy them.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

"I cannot leave all those services because ~~I really like all the money~~ my music would have no outlet to music lovers at all"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Considering how little spotify pays out per play, it's not really about the money.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I mean, it is Neil Young. We're not talking some mumblecore rapper from Minnesota. He's going to put up some big numbers. All those 0.01$ add up.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Eh.

Stephen Stills is one of the other major members of Young's supergroup, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, and Stephen Stills currently is listed as having 286,696 monthly listeners on Spotify.

Gola Gianni is a random rapper that I have never heard of before searching the word "mumblecore" on Spotify just 5 minutes ago, and he has 328,039 monthly listeners listed on Spotify.

I think you're both severely overestimating how many people are actually listening to a lot of these "classic" artists and also severely underestimating how popular random flash-in-the-pan artists are on Spotify.

edit: I didn't specifically use Young's monthly listeners right now because I suspect the news-worthy nature of his absence and then eventual return likely has temporarily inflated his numbers with the additional attention on him

2nd edit: I kept being curious so I kept looking at numbers for other "big name" bands.... I find it almost unbelievable that there is still apparently over 22 million people listening to Aerosmith monthly. I don't hate Aerosmith, but I'm not sure I could even sit through a whole album of theirs, so that 22 mil is breaking my brain.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

That’s embarrassing

[+] [email protected] -16 points 8 months ago

Fucking coward.

[+] [email protected] -50 points 8 months ago (4 children)

It was dumb to leave in the first place. You can't expect to like or agree with every other person on a platform, that's ridiculous.

[–] [email protected] 69 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Standing up for your principles isn't ridiculous, and had more artists done the same Spotify might have gotten the message. It's not too dissimilar to when Pearl Jam pulled out of all Ticketmaster venues in the 90s over the price gouging of ticket prices. Had other artists had the nerve to do so as well maybe we wouldn't have the insane concert ticket pricing of today.

[+] [email protected] -23 points 8 months ago (2 children)

How anyone could equate Joe Rogan to a news channel is beyond me. It’s a podcast for god sakes. Just. Plain. Stupid. Entertainment. So yeah, pretty stupid action to take his music off Spotify. That whole cancel culture thing is insane and needs to end already.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Rogan has clout. Its not about the news. Its about the reach. He played his part in covid misinformation, misinformation that put my colleagues at risk (I work for a UK hospital). Carl Sagan's summary of needing extraordinary evidence is still apt to this day.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

I understand his reach. What I don’t understand is people failing to think critically and falling for whatever shit they come across. On the other hand there’s the proven lies told to us by our governments. If Rogan’s stories had any negative consequences, it’s equally a failure of our politicians. We should not silence dumb people. We should educate our kids. Problem will be solved in a generation or two.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

That whole cancel culture thing is insane and needs to end already.

Exactly! We need to get the word out that cancel culture is harmful! We need to make sure that corporations supporting cancel culture won't be getting our business! We need to make sure that people who cancel others aren't welcome in our society! We need t--oh wait....

[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It led me to think about Spotify's politics and ethics and ultimately leaving it as well as a paying customer.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Same!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

you can't expect to agree with everyone, but maybe some particular examples are beyond the pale.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

That's not the expectation. The expectation is for a platform to choose not to host willingly ignorant content that other creators feel is damaging to their artform or the society they live in.

A democracy means people are free to be stupid, but it necessitates that people strive to be well informed. So Spotify is free to host whatever it wants, and Neil is free to demand better of them.

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