Skip to main content

Amazon and Apple Music flaunt support for Neil Young with special deals and playlists after legendary artist breaks from Spotify in ultimatum over Joe Rogan podcast

Neil Young and Joe Rogan
Neil Young and Joe Rogan.

Apple Music, Amazon Music, and SiriusXM have wasted no time in capitalizing on rival Spotify's recent loss of legendary artist Neil Young.

Just three days after Young's decision to pull his catalog from the music streamer in protest of the controversial "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast, Amazon Music is offering fans a free four-month subscription trial. 

"All new listeners to Amazon Music will automatically get four months free," Young shared with fans on Friday. "Amazon has been leading the pack in bringing Hi-Res audio to the masses, and it's a great place to enjoy my entire catalog in the highest quality available."

On Thursday, Apple Music added a "We Love Neil" section to its homepage and sent out push notifications linked to Young's latest album. The same day, SiriusXM announced it would be airing its "Neil Young Radio" program over the next seven days. 

"When you have an opportunity to present an iconic artist still at the height of his creativity, you don't hesitate to do it, again," SiriusXM Senior Vice President of Music Programming Steve Blatter said in a statement

 

The courting of Young's audience follows the songwriter's ultimatum that Spotify could have "Rogan or Young" but "not both," after he accused the streaming service of spreading "life-threatening" vaccine misinformation on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast. 

"Most of the listeners hearing the unfactual, misleading, and false COVID information on Spotify are 24 years old, impressionable and easy to swing to the wrong side of the truth," Young wrote on his website. "I realized I could not continue to support Spotify's life threatening misinformation to the music loving public." 

Spotify currently commands 31% of global streaming subscribers, followed by Apple Music at 15%, according to a January 18 report from Midia, a research and analysis service focused on digital content. Amazon and Tencent Music are tied at third place with 13% each. 

On Friday, Joni Mitchell announced she would also pull her music from Spotify in solidarity with Young, writing in a post on her website that she believes "irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives." 

According to internal messages published by The Verge, Spotify's communications chief told employees that episodes of Joe Rogan's podcast "didn't meet the threshold for removal."

A Spotify spokesman told the Wall Street Journal that "we regret Neil's decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon."

"We want all the world's music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators," the spokesman said. "The company has detailed content policies in place and has removed over 20,000 COVID-related podcast episodes since the start of the pandemic."

Read the original article on Business Insider


from Business Insider https://ift.tt/bUOWDE4gP
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Instagram accidentally reinstated Pornhub’s banned account

After years of on-and-off temporary suspensions, Instagram permanently banned Pornhub’s account in September. Then, for a short period of time this weekend, the account was reinstated. By Tuesday, it was permanently banned again. “This was done in error,” an Instagram spokesperson told TechCrunch. “As we’ve said previously, we permanently disabled this Instagram account for repeatedly violating our policies.” Instagram’s content guidelines prohibit  nudity and sexual solicitation . A Pornhub spokesperson told TechCrunch, though, that they believe the adult streaming platform’s account did not violate any guidelines. Instagram has not commented on the exact reasoning for the ban, or which policies the account violated. It’s worrying from a moderation perspective if a permanently banned Instagram account can accidentally get switched back on. Pornhub told TechCrunch that its account even received a notice from Instagram, stating that its ban had been a mistake (that message itse...

Watch Aidy Bryant *completely* lose it as 'SNL' roasts political pundits

On Saturday Night Live , there are breaks and then there's whatever happened here. The Season 45 premiere featured a sketch that was meant to expose the empty noisemaking of political punditry on TV. But part of the joke involved a series of quick costume changes, and some weirdness during one of those switches led to a complete and total breakdown. Aidy Bryant, the segment's host, couldn't take it. She manages to keep it together until what appears to be an accidental wide shot exposes some of the magic as we see a woman who's probably a member of the SNL wardrobe crew fiddling with Aidy's costume. Read more... More about Saturday Night Live , Aidy Bryant , Entertainment , and Movies Tv Shows from Mashable https://ift.tt/2okrAOq via IFTTT

California Gov. Newsom vetoes bill SB 1047 that aims to prevent AI disasters

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed bill SB 1047, which aims to prevent bad actors from using AI to cause "critical harm" to humans. The California state assembly passed the legislation by a margin of 41-9 on August 28, but several organizations including the Chamber of Commerce had urged Newsom to veto the bill . In his veto message on Sept. 29, Newsom said the bill is "well-intentioned" but "does not take into account whether an Al system is deployed in high-risk environments, involves critical decision-making or the use of sensitive data. Instead, the bill applies stringent standards to even the most basic functions - so long as a large system deploys it."  SB 1047 would have made the developers of AI models liable for adopting safety protocols that would stop catastrophic uses of their technology. That includes preventive measures such as testing and outside risk assessment, as well as an "emergency stop" that would completely shut down...