Spotify’s Market Value Drops by $4 Billion as Joni Mitchell Bails and #CancelSpotify Trends Online
If you’re a fan of rock music, you’ve no doubt heard that Spotify is becoming a battleground for some of our senior musicians. Singer/songwriter Neil Young demanded his music be taken off the streaming giant rather than share a platform with podcaster Joe Rogan’s COVID misinformation. Spotify removed Young’s music, prompting Disturbed’s David Draiman and Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta to publicly agree with the service and inspiring metal singer Sebastian Bach to call both of them out online. But now, as folk musician Joni Mitchell offers solidarity with Young by removing her catalog from Spotify and the hashtags #DeleteSpotify and #CancelSpotify trend online, it seems like this movement is actually altering the online service’s value — to the tune of $4 billion.
According to Forbes, Spotify’s investors are becoming a little worried about the service’s standings amidst the Neil Young controversy. Since the beginning of 2022, Spotify’s stock has dropped in value by 25%, costing the streaming service $4 billion.
It’s certainly not making the company’s investors feel very safe that others are joining Neil Young in his campaign. As Ultimate Classic Rock reports, the hashtags #DeleteSpotify and #CancelSpotify are currently trending on Twitter. Meanwhile, folk singer Joni Mitchell has removed her catalog from the service in solidarity with Young.
“I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify. Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives,” said Mitchell via her website. “I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.”
While all of this might seem dramatic, it’s als been a long time coming. Given how huge Spotify has become, the fact that it pays musicians so little and provides a platform for so many questionable artists and personalities was eventually going to become a problem Hell, according to NPR it took the 2017 white power march in Charlottesville to get them to start removing racist music from the platform. There was only so long before big names in music began demanding more from the platform.
That said, there’s some validity to Spotify offering everyone a platform. If Spotify can’t host whatever it wants, will it start adhering to a puritan set of rules like Facebook and Instagram? Will music glorifying sex or Satan be next?
More on this as it unfolds.
