AP
- Neil Young pulled his music from Spotify after the platform refused to remove Joe Rogan.
- Days later, traffic to Spotify’s cancellation page increased by 115%, according to Similarweb data.
- Joe Rogan has been accused of spreading misinformation and has used racist language on his podcast.
Spotify’s cancellation page was flooded with unusually high traffic after Neil Young announced he would be pulling his music from the streaming platform, according to web analytics company Similarweb.
Young said on January 26 he was removing his music after Spotify refused to take podcaster Joe Rogan off the platform. Young and other have accused Rogan of spreading misinformation about COVID-19.
According to Similarweb data shared with Insider, Spotify’s cancellation page had around 26,000 visits on January 25. On January 27, visitors shot up to 45,000 and reached 56,000 on January 29, marking a 115% increase in traffic.
Spotify did not immediately respond to Insider request for comment.
The recent controversy around Spotify’s hosting of Rogan’s wildly popular podcast began after 270 doctors, nurses, scientists, and educators wrote a letter in late December calling on Spotify to remove the show to mitigate the spread of misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines.
Young and other musicians pulled their music after the platform stood by Rogan. Spotify also announced it would be adding a content advisory to podcasts mentioning COVID-19.
Criticism of Rogan increased after a video compilation of him saying the N-word went viral. Rogan issued an apology for using the word and said it was “the most regretful and shameful thing” he’s ever had to discuss publicly.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said Sunday he does not believe in “silencing” Rogan. However following conversations with Rogan, the podcaster decided to remove 70 episodes that contained “racially insensitive language” from the platform.
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