Joni Mitchell Removes Her Music From Spotify

Joni Mitchell

➤Barry Manilow Denies Reports

Joni Mitchell announced Friday that she will join her friend Neil Young in pulling her music off of Spotify, reports The L-A Times.

Mitchell, 78, said in a statement posted to her website, “I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify. Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.”

Mitchell, who like Young survived polio as a child, also linked to an open letter signed by hundreds of doctors and medical professionals who said that Spotify’s top podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” promotes “baseless conspiracy theories and has a concerning history of broadcasting misinformation, particularly regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Mitchell, this year’s MusiCares Person of the Year honoree, is one of folk and rock’s most beloved songwriters, with a vast catalog that includes some of popular music’s most acclaimed albums, such as 1971’s “Blue,” which Rolling Stone deemed the third-best LP of all time.

Barry Manilow

Mitchell’s and Young’s careers, which began in Canada in the ‘60s and continued in the L.A. folk-rock scene of the ‘70s, are deeply intertwined, with songs such as “The Circle Game” and “Sweet Joni” inspired by each other. Both are signed to Reprise, an imprint of Warner Music. 

Meanwhile, Barry Manilow said he’s keeping his music on Spotify refuting rumors on social media after Neil Young pulled his songs from the company.

“I recently heard a rumor about me and Spotify,” the singer said Friday in an emailed statement. “I don’t know where it started, but it didn’t start with me or anyone who represents me.” 

Manilow’s comments suggest Spotify isn’t seeing a wave of musicians joining Young in solidarity. Young accused podcaster Joe Rogan of spreading vaccine misinformation on his show distributed by Spotify, and removed his music from the service in protest, prompting the hashtag #spotifydeleted to trend on social media.