Spotify will remove Neil Young's music after he issues ultimatum over Joe Rogan podcast

Spotify plans to remove Neil Young's music after the singer-songwriter accused the platform of spreading COVID-19 misinformation through Joe Rogan's podcast. 

“We want all the world’s music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators," a representative from the company told TechCrunch in an emailed statement. "We have detailed content policies in place and we’ve removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID since the start of the pandemic. We regret Neil’s decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon."

Young has more than 6 million monthly listeners on Spotify. His music is still available on the platform as of Wednesday, but Spotify confirmed to TechCrunch that Young's songs are in process of being removed and "soon" will no longer appear.

Young posted a letter on his website Tuesday, demanding that his management team and record label to remove his music from Spotify. The letter was deleted shortly thereafter.

"SPOTIFY has become the home of life threatening COVID misinformation. Lies being sold for money," Young wrote Wednesday on his website.

The artist thanked many people for standing with him. He also said that 60% of all music streamed globally is through Spotify, so he will lose 60% of his streaming income.

"I sincerely hope that other artists and record companies will move off the SPOTIFY platform and stop supporting SPOTIFY's deadly misinformation about COVID," he wrote.