No disrespect to Neil Young, but he was never going to move the needle here. This time around, it seems less inclined to rankle Rogan’s acolytes than it is to accept that a fraction of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young superfans who care about public health will be deleting their accounts.

Back then, when it ported over Rogan’s catalog, it left out more than 40 older episodes, including interviews with Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes-and it faced a wave of backlash from angry fans for doing so. Spotify knew what it was buying in May 2020.

It gave him the money to be his freewheeling, contrarian, and almost constantly controversial self. (Young, in contrast, is the 778th most popular musical artist.) Spotify didn’t give Rogan a reported $100 million in a noble effort to spearhead a public health campaign. His podcast remains number one on its charts in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. But there is no evidence that this rancor has impacted Rogan’s position as Spotify’s golden boy. Yes, plenty of people are angry at Rogan, including the 270 health care professionals whose highly publicized open letter to Spotify about the podcaster’s content inspired Young. Spotify has been framed as a culture-war victory for Joe Rogan, but it’s not.

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