I cancelled my premium service with Spotify today.  I moving towards lossless audio anyway…gonna hang with Neil.  He’s always had my back since I’ve lived on Sugar Mountain.

Bill Cason

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You’re absolutely right that Spotify won’t listen unless users make a statement, so I just completely canceled my family plan and made sure they knew the reason was Rogan and his misinformation.

I’ll take Neil over Joe any day.

L Eilers

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I cancelled my Spotify last night and switched to Apple. I said ‘I’m with Neil’. Maybe more need to say that.

Len Cater

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Yes. Yes. Yes.  Just canceled my subscription!

LaRhonda Tracy

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Hi Bob,about time a musician came out and said something.I’m cancelling Spotify.Joined Amazon and Neil Young Archives.He’ll get alot of subscribers from this.More people should leave Spotify.Really bad press.Wall Street doesn’t like that.Stay well.It’s snowing again here in CO.Ted Keane

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Goodbye, Spotify! We’re going with Apple.

– Ralph & Becky Torres

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I left Spotify for Amazon HD about 3 years ago…Spotify has better algorithms I think (those playlists are great) but the lack of HD was the main reason for me. This news makes me feel even better about my decision.

Ric Ruiz Esparza

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I just emailed Spotify and told them I was about to cancel my membership – that they need to kick Rogan off now.

Everyone who doesn’t accept these lies and disinformation should have this email and tell Spotify to change.

support@spotify.com

Thanks Bob – I continue to appreciate and value your missives.

cheers,

Mike Sturgill

Britt Festival, Wave Form Concerts

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My friend Al McGee, who is a First Responder and an RN sent me this note he sent to Spotify.  I just turned him onto your newsletter and also have cancelled my Premium subscription to Spotify.

If enough of us do it hopefully they will take notice.  His comments below hit the mark.  He was also previously in the music business as a Manager at HMV.

Always enjoy your posts.

Mike Peters

Pacific Music & Art

 FYI…

Begin forwarded message:

From: Al McGee
Date: January 26, 2022 at 16:26:35 PST
To: office@spotify.com
Subject: Re: You’ve canceled your Spotify subscription

Dear Spotify Corporation,

Just an FYI….I canceled my premium service due to your weak policy and stance regarding Joe Rogans’ (Podcast), via his continued self promotion negating science and reality.

I am a  Fire First Responder AND work as an RN, I find the whole thing disturbing, at the least. Interestingly today “ Rogan had Jordan Peterson on his most recent episode to promote climate science denial.”

I have happily signed up for Apple Music and also understand they support their artists with a higher fee structure along with some form of moral compass.

Anyhow, I am sure this WILL NOT change anything, but I find it sad (collectively) that as a large corporation you can’t find a way to have a policy in place, at a minimum, and have basic morals and ethics regarding your talent, at a maximum..

Kind regards,

Alan McGee

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I don’t know you but have been subscribed for a long time now, avid reader.  I’m not in the music business.  I’m not a huge NYA fan and he doesn’t need my money.  I laughed at Pono.  But you know what? I subscribed for a year.  Paid my $19.99.  Good for him, making a stand.  I don’t need spotify.

Sincerely,

Gower

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I’ve considered leaving Spotify for a high-res music service over the last few months as I’ve gotten deeper into my audiophile headphone obsession. But I trusted Spotify to launch its high-res service in 2021, as promised. Ek and Co. didn’t deliver and have provided ZERO updates since the original announcement of its hi-fi streaming plans last spring, shafting customers just as it has shafted artists with miniscule streaming royalty payments since its inception.

I’m not a Neil zealot, but I like his music and commitment to causes and principle. So, when he made the accurate point that Spotify is encouraging misinformation by coddling its cash cow poster boy/village idiot Rogan, I made the jump and opened a Qobuz account. No regrets.

Spotify is a service of algorithms. But the company’s most important algorithm is one that screws the artist and the customer, all in the name of growth and profits.

Sincerely,

Paul Kelly

Marcellus, NY

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premium member Spotify since 2019.

just turned 60 yrs young.

believe in freedom of speech ……and also …. words and actions have consequences.

Good on Mr. Young. It would be interesting to hear the chatter now amongst his peers. A charitable, formidable artist taking a stand. That contact list must be pretty large. … but then again, those rich monthly royalty cheques from Spotify must be hard to turn off.

It seems I’ll be getting my streamed music elsewhere. Spotify probably doesn’t care my monthly donation has disappeared from their revenue stream …. and that’s the wonder of choice in the marketplace.

 

I was surviving listening to music pre-Spotify and I’ll survive listening to music post-Spotify…..there will be other Spotify’s.

I will continue to listen to my musical playlists via another means again as well as continue to discover new music through other means (including this e-mail) …. and hopefully will find a music stream which supports artists in a more respectful manner.

…and I’ll keep on listening to my chosen podcasts via a little app called: Podcasts … including The Lefsetz

peace

 

Ken Hunter in Vancouver

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Streaming music has become a commodity, a parity product. I subscribe to three streaming services right now and with one major exception they are all about the same. One may have a song that others don’t or one’s UI might be a little bit easier to work with, but in the end they’re all the same in many ways.

The thing that is not the same about Spotify is that their quality just blows. They promised us lossless or at least higher quality audio by the end of 2021 and here we are without it. I can get better audio from Apple, Amazon, or Tidal, so I really don’t need Spotify even though I’ve been with them since the very beginning. I dumped them because the quality of their music is terrible not because of the Neil Young thing.

Yes, I’m not happy about the Neil Young thing and the fact that Spotify went with their wallet and chose Joe Rogan over Mr Young, but they are a business and they can do what they want. But if there are other services that offer me a better quality listening experience, they will get my money and not Spotify. And bonus, I won’t have to look at my homepage full ofall of the podcasts that I will never listen to on Spotify

Businesses make decisions everyday, and they need to live with those decisions. Spotify has never really cared about its users, so I’m guessing Daniel won’t be losing any sleep tonight because me, or thousands like me, dropped his service.

Mark Edwards Edelstein

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I am a Spotify client, but this makes me question whether I will change to Apple now.  I have always been thinking about it, but just didn’t go through with it.  The outliers have taken over the airwaves.  The vast majority is doing what they need to do get through this pandemic, cause people in the end, all what the same thing…
Now we’ve tolerated people spewing falsehoods in the name of free speech….well nothing’s free in this world, and your effects on your neighbours, whether it’s taking their place in a hospital bed, or other, shouldn’t be free either….there should be a price.

I’m starting by making value based decisions….and thank you Neil for reminding me how good that feels.

Glenn Moran

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I know where I stand but the idea of giving up Spotify is hard. But he has me thinking on it.

Michael Becker

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I just wish there was a suitable alternative to Spotify. But Apple Music sucks (especially if you’re stuck on a PC instead of a Mac). What are the other ones? Tidal? Amazon Music? I don’t want a fringe service. If I pay for it, I want all the songs and the ability to seamlessly play them on any of my devices. Spotify, unfortunately, ticks the most boxes (their UX and UI is seriously taking steps backward though).

Sarah Martin

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I’m with Patagonia and Neil Young all the way. Unlike his band of hypocrites, it’s what Jesus would do.
Gay

P.S. All birthday and Christmas gifts in 2021 were purchased from Patagonia in both Canada and USA.

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I have a portrait photograph of Neil up in my house, right above my music stand. He’s an inspiration for more than music. He turned out to be the only one who meant what he said, meant what we all thought they all meant, and still stands for the truth. He never sold out. Every other major artist of that era gave in, cried uncle, (in fact we shoulda seen Clapton’s disappointing vax behavior coming way back when he sold a song to Michelob beer. He was the first).

There’s only Neil.

Paul Gigante

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Relative to your disinformation observations, anti-vaxxers can dismiss & deny the efficacy of vaccines all they want; doubt the death toll is accurate & make whatever bullshit excuse they want so they can feel better about their decision.

But here’s a microcosm of America:

One of my nephews is a funeral director in Ohio. In the two months preceding Christmas last year he had buried 88 people that suffered covid related deaths.

85 of the 88 hadn’t been vaccinated. That’s 96.6% of those deaths.

Let’s see them spin that.

Frank Palombi

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What do you mean Spotify needs a policy?

Do you hear songs on there with lyrics like “Hey kids eat detergent pods. “They’re totally safe and the good for you, good for you, good for you…”?

No?

How about this song? “Hail the Nazis. Kill the Jews. Hitler’s like God. The Holocaust is a lie. A lie. A lie.”

Have you heard a song like that on Spotify?

If not, and we can suspect how Spotify would respond to songs like that, why is it so hard to understand what Neil Young is saying: “Hey hey, my my  … Stop telling people that covid is a lie. And that if they get the vaccine which is desperately needed then maybe they’ll die.” Or something like that.

Besides this is not a dispute between the NFL and Aaron Rogers. Or the USTA vs. Novak Djokovic.  This is effing Neil Young.

This Neil Young:

“Tin soldiers and Nixon’s coming;

We’re finally on our own;

This summer I hear the drumming;

Four dead in Ohio.”

Funny thing is I just got my first smart speaker last weekend and I was enjoying using Spotify as a music source. That said I’ve canceled my subscription. F*** Spotify. And f***** Joe Rogan.

Thank you Neil.

Bill Lichtenstein

Somerville, MA