One More Reason To Hate Spotify

Remember when Joe Rogan was a sassy, beguiling comedian on the hit TV sitcom "NewsRadio"?  Yeah, neither can I.  Now he's a loudmouthed libertarian who disses Joe Biden and promotes stupid ideas, one of them being alternative treatments for COVID and how the whole damn pandemic is overblown.  And his stupid ideas have made him the most successful podcast host on the Internet.

So popular, in fact, that his podcast is aired on Spotify, that infernal streaming service that made record stores virtually obsolete and made it necessary to download music you want to save.  But if you want to download or hear music from Neil Young on Spotify, you're no longer able to.

Young told Spotify that he was so incensed about all of the COVID misinformation Rogan spreads like so much peanut butter on bread - or, for that matter like so much COVID in Florida - that Spotify could either stream him or Rogan . . . but not both.  Spotify chose Rogan.  So now, in addition to endangering the livelihoods of record store owners and managers, Spotify is endangering the lives of American men (do women listen to Rogan? highly unlikely) by sticking with Joe and his COVID misinformation over one of the most socially conscientious singer-songwriters in rock and roll history. 

Actually two. Young's fellow Canadian immigrant and recent Kennedy Center laureate Joni Mitchell has requested that Spotify take her music down in protest of the streaming service airing Rogan's garbage. 

Kudos to two of my all-time favorite musical artists for taking a stand against COVID misinformation at a time when those of us who got vaccinated and boosted, some of us having done so having gotten a breakthrough Omicron infection, are done with this virus and want to move on but can't because morons who listen to Rogan - and morons like Rogan - won't do what it takes to end the pandemic.  As for all of those suckers who thought Spotify was a good way to get their music fix and now can't listen to Young's or Mitchell's music and can't find a record store to buy their albums in . . . you're in luck.  You can find their music on YouTube, which goes after COVID misinformation like an angry bird of prey goes after rodents.  Ask Dan Bongino.

Downloading music from YouTube, however, requires a little cunning and know-how.

I only hope Crosby, Stills and Nash - who have worked with Neil Young and know Joni Mitchell personally - will follow suit and have their music taken off Spotify as well.