Spotify's recent decision to pull Neil Young's music from their platform is backfiring exponentially.
This illustration picture taken on July 24, 2019 in Paris shows the logo of the Swedish music streaming application Spotify on the screen of a tablet.
ArsTechnica reports that the music streaming service's support channels have been flooded with complaints from angry fans, basically causing the support infrastructure to buckle.
On the company's support page, they posted that they might be slow to respond because of the large influx of complaints. Before, customers were able to communicate via live chat, which was manned by either a customer support agent or chat bot. Now, customers are only reportedly limited to an email address.
This news comes after Neil Young called out Spotify and Joe Rogan, who has been allegedly touting his purported anti-vax stance against the COVID-19 vaccine on his podcast. The veteran musician threatened to take his music from the platform as a result.
According to Young, Rogan's influence poses a danger to more impressionable younger audiences, who he says might believe that Spotify's podcasts are only sharing factual information.
Rogan's podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), is considered the largest podcast on the popular streaming service by listenership. JRE boasts an insane 11 million listener average for every episode, which likely made Young wary about its influence over younger audiences.
On his podcast, Rogan has repeatedly urged his younger listeners not to get vaccinated against COVID-19, often touting the anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin as an alternative treatment. And yet, the former actor and UFC color commentator has actually said he's not anti-vax (via the BBC).
Young's music was finally pulled from the platform on January 27th, a move which the veteran rocker claims made him "feel better." But it had another lasting effect, as Spotify's stock reportedly tanked:
Spotify stock tanks. Spotify shuts down their customer service lines. Thousands of listeners complain and cancel subscriptions over Spotify’s decision to support Joe Rogan and the misinformation he broadcasts, over Neil Young’s music. pic.twitter.com/pjvMm7pYVQ
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) January 28, 2022
Young: Spotify's Sound Quality Was 'Shitty' Anyway
Even if his music was already taken down, Young didn't let up on his tirades against the streaming giant. Engadget reports that the "Powderfinger" singer actually felt that Spotify's sound quality was "shitty." He then went on to praise other streaming services like Qobuz and Apple Music, both of whom sound better than Spotify's "degraded and neutered sound."
This wasn't even the first time that his music was pulled from the platform too, apparently. Back in 2015, the rock icon temporarily took his stuff down, saying that it is "too good" for streaming services to host (via Engadget). He had the same concerns about Spotify's sound quality even back then.
Apple Music Starts Trolling
Days after Young's music was taken down, Apple Music started putting salt on the wound of their competitor with this tweet which said "The home of Neil Young":
The home of Neil Young.
— Apple Music (@AppleMusic) January 28, 2022
Listen to his entire catalog on Apple Music: https://t.co/sUGtz4JbB9 pic.twitter.com/YgRMygUqhi
As of this writing, the tweet has earned 34K likes and 6,506 retweets. They're obviously trolling Spotify over the Neil Young and Joe Rogan row, given the fact that they host the former's entire catalog. All of those angry fans have to go somewhere for their fix, and Apple Music is giving them a really enticing olive branch.
Related Article: Spotify Account Guide: How to Delete Your Account and Cancel Your Premium Subscription
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Written by RJ Pierce
