Joni Mitchell's music catalog returns to Spotify after 2022 protest
Newsy
Mitchell removed her music from the platform in solidarity with Neil Young after both protested its support of Joe Rogan's podcast.
Joni Mitchell has looked at Spotify from "Both Sides Now" — those sides being the one with her music off the streaming service and the one with it back on again.
The folk singer's catalog quietly returned to the platform last week to the joy of users who have had to go elsewhere to hear classics like "River" and "Big Yellow Taxi" over the last two-plus years.
That's how long it's been since the 80-year-old, in solidarity with rocker Neil Young, pulled her music from Spotify to protest its then-exclusive deal with podcast host Joe Rogan, whom both singers — along with health care officials — said was spreading COVID-19 misinformation with the help of Spotify's distribution.
Young's music was first removed from the streaming service in January 2022 after he briefly posted a letter on his website saying Spotify was "spreading fake information about vaccines — potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them." He wrote, "They can have Rogan or Young. Not both," according to Rolling Stone.
Soon after, Mitchell said on her website that she decided to remove her music from Spotify to stand with Young and "the global scientific and medical communities on this issue."
