David Crosby, Graham Nash and Stephen Stills ask to pull their content from Spotify

David Crosby, Graham Nash and Stephen Stills ask to pull their content from Spotify

Transcript¹

Three more prominent musicians are following Neil Young's lead in asking to have their work removed from the streaming giant Spotify: Young's former bandmates David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash. They are doing so in protest of popular Spotify podcast host Joe Rogan, who they say has been spreading coronavirus misinformation.

In a written statement sent to NPR on Wednesday afternoon, the musicians said: "David Crosby, Graham Nash, and Stephen Stills have requested that their labels remove their collective recordings² from Spotify. In solidarity³ with their bandmate, Neil Young, and in support of stopping harmful misinformation about COVID, they have decided⁴ to remove their records from the streaming platform including the recordings of CSNY, CSN, and CN, as well as Crosby's and Stills' solo projects. Nash has already begun the process to take down his solo recordings."

The statement continued: "We support Neil and we agree with him that there is dangerous disinformation being aired on Spotify's Joe Rogan podcast. While we always value alternate points of view, knowingly spreading disinformation during this global pandemic has deadly consequences. Until real action is taken to show that a concern for humanity must be balanced with commerce, we don't want our music — or the music we made together — to be on the same platform."

Other artists and creators are requesting to pull or have suspended their content from Spotify as well. First to follow Young was singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, who wrote on her website: "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."

On Saturday, guitarist Nils Lofgren, a longtime member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and the Crazy Horse band with Neil Young, announced that he has also asked for his music to be removed from Spotify, accusing the streaming service of "promoting lies and misinformation that are hurting and killing⁵ people."

On Tuesday, vocalist India.Arie wrote on Instagram: "Neil Young opened a door that I MUST walk through. ... I find Joe Rogan problematic for reasons OTHER than his Covid interviews... FOR ME ITS ALSO HIS his language around race."

Last week, Rogan made comments about race during an interview with Jordan Peterson, a climate change skeptic⁶ and psychologist. Rogan said that he found it odd to classify people as Black based on skin tone, saying: "Unless you're talking to someone who is like 100% African, from the darkest place, where they're not wearing any clothes all day and they've developed all that melanin to protect themselves from the sun, you know, even the term 'Black' is weird⁷."

As of Wednesday afternoon, however, India.Arie's albums remained available on Spotify.

Psychologist and author Mary Trump⁸, who is the niece of former President Donald Trump, announced Tuesday that she is pulling her podcast from Spotify as well, writing: "I know it's not a big deal but hope it will be part of a growing avalanche⁹." On Wednesday, in a separate tweet, she wrote: "Spotify should get rid of Joe Rogan's show not just because he spreads COVID disinformation but because he is a racist¹⁰. It's yet another reason for us to #DeleteSpotify."

Some podcast hosts who, like Rogan, have exclusive deals with Spotify have also spoken up. In a statement over the weekend from their production company, Prince Harry¹¹ and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, expressed "concerns" to Spotify about the "all too real consequences of COVID-19 misinformation on its platform."

Another prominent host, researcher and author Brené Brown, who has two exclusive podcasts on Spotify, said last week that she was suspending providing any new content to the platform.

In a lengthy¹² statement posted Tuesday, Brown said that she had paused delivering new episodes until she understood the situation better. "I wanted to talk to the Spotify leadership about their position, their policies, and the application of those policies," she wrote. "I met with them twice last week and once again this week. I've listened, they've listened, and my assessment¹³ is that everyone is open and learning—including me."

Brown added that since her initial announcement, she has faced an onslaught of reactions online, "driven by unfounded accusations¹⁴ of censorship."

She continued: "Comments like 'I'm canceling you for canceling people' and 'I hate censors¹⁵ so you shut up' and 'I'm burning your books because I don't agree with you' would be ironic¹⁶ and funny if they didn't demonstrate a complete lack of critical thinking."

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

3 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 skeptic   

n.怀疑者，怀疑论者，无神论者

参考例句：

• She is a skeptic about the dangers of global warming.她是全球变暖危险的怀疑论者。
• How am I going to convince this skeptic that she should attention to my research?我将如何使怀疑论者确信她应该关注我的研究呢？

7 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

8 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

9 avalanche   

n.雪崩，大量涌来

参考例句：

• They were killed by an avalanche in the Swiss Alps.他们在瑞士阿尔卑斯山的一次雪崩中罹难。
• Higher still the snow was ready to avalanche.在更高处积雪随时都会崩塌。

10 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

11 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

12 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

13 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

14 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

15 censors   

删剪（书籍、电影等中被认为犯忌、违反道德或政治上危险的内容）( censor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The censors eviscerated the book to make it inoffensive to the President. 审查员删去了该书的精华以取悦于总统。
• The censors let out not a word. 检察官一字也不发。

16 ironic   

adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的

参考例句：

• That is a summary and ironic end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
• People used to call me Mr Popularity at high school,but they were being ironic.人们中学时常把我称作“万人迷先生”，但他们是在挖苦我。