Neil Young Tells Spotify Employees to Quit Before ‘It Eats Up Your Soul’
Two weeks after kicking off the revolt against Spotify due to Joe Rogan’s vaccine misinformation, Neil Young is taking aim at CEO Daniel Ek.
“To the musicians and creators in this world, I say this: You must be able to find a better place than Spotify to be the home of your art,” he writes in a new letter on the Neil Young Archives. “To the workers at Spotify, I say Daniel Ek is your problem — not Joe Rogan. Ek pulls the strings. Get out of the place before it eats up your soul. The goals stated by EK are about numbers — not art, not creativity.”
In recent days, Ek has introduced a new plan for addressing medical misinformation on the platform, and he’s responded to the “incredibly hurtful” use of the N-word on Rogan’s podcast that caused them to remove 70 of his shows from their library.
“I want to make one point very clear — I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer,” Ek wrote. “We should have clear lines around content and take action when they are crossed, but canceling voices is a slippery slope.”
Young also turned his focus to financial institutions that are not using their resources to combat climate change in his new post. He began by appealing to members of his own generation to put their money elsewhere.
“To baby boomers, I say that 70 percent of your country’s financial assets are in your hands compared with just 5 percent for millennials,” he wrote. “You and I need to lead…In our age of Climate Chaos, I say ditch the companies contributing to the mass fossil fuel destruction of Earth. For their continued funding of the fossil fuel damage even as the global temperature keeps climbing, I say take your money from the accounts of these American banks today: Chase, Citi, Bank of America, Wells Fargo.
“Join me as I move money away from the damage causers or you will intentionally be one of them,” he continued. “You have the power to change the world. We can do it together. Your grandchildren will thank you in history.”
