Nils Lofgren (Crazy Horse, E Street Band) Removes Music From Spotify In Solidarity With Neil Young

Nils Lofgren (Crazy Horse, E Street Band) Removes Music From Spotify In Solidarity With Neil Young

Nils Lofgren, guitarist of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and member of Crazy Horse, is joining Neil Young and Joni Mitchell in removing his music from Spotify to protest the spread of COVID misinformation by the platform-exclusive podcast The Jogan Rogan Experience. “A few days ago, my wife Amy and I became aware of Neil and Daryl standing with hundreds of healthcare professionals, scientists, doctors, and nurses in calling out Spotify for promoting lies and misinformation that are hurting and killing people,” Lofgren writes in a statement posted on Neil Young’s website.

“When these heroic women and men, who’ve spent their lives healing and saving ours, cry out for help you don’t turn your back on them for money and power. You listen and stand with them,” Lofgren continues. “As I write this letter, we’ve now gotten the last 27 years of my music taken off Spotify. We are reaching out to the labels that own my earlier music to have it removed as well. We sincerely hope they honor our wishes, as Neil’s labels have done, his. We will do everything possible towards that end and will keep you posted.”

“Neil and I go back 53 years. Amy and I are honored and blessed to call Neil and Daryl friends, and knew standing with them was the right choice,” Lofgren adds. “We encourage all musicians, artists, and music lovers everywhere, to stand with us all, and cut ties with Spotify. Music is our planet’s sacred weapon, uniting and healing billions of souls every day. Pick up your sword and start swinging! Neil always has. Stand with him, us (Joni Mitchell!), and others. It’s a powerful action you can all take now, to honor truth, humanity, and the heroes risking their lives every day to save ours.”

Plenty of others are also responding to Young and Mitchell’s decision to remove their music from Spotify. Billboard reports that Apple Music, Spotify’s biggest competitor, is winkingly highlighting Neil Young and Joni Mitchell’s catalogs with the headers “We Love Neil” and “We Love Joni Too.” And James Blunt, always funnier and more self-aware than people give him credit for, is threatening to release more music on Spotify unless they deplatform Joe Rogan.

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