The ongoing Spotify drama has taken a new turn now that India Arie has entered the chat. The beloved Soul and R&B singer has been observing the tit-for-tat between the famed streaming platform and artists looking to remove their catalogs. Neil Young set forth the movement when he publicly declared that he wanted his music axed from Spotify due to the platform allowing The Joe Rogan Experience to continue spreading what he dubbed to be misinformation about COVID and its vaccines.
Spotify bowed to the music icon's request and dropped his catalog, but they ran into another hiccup when legend Joni Mitchell asked for the same. She, too, did not agree with Spotify keeping Joe Rogan on the air.
Rogan has come forward with promises that he will make changes and Spotify shared a statement where they insist they have been monitoring misinformation amid the pandemic, but that did not keep India Arie from adding her name to the growing list of artists. In a statement she uploaded to social media, Arie detailed why she has chosen to remove her music from Spotify, as well.
"I have decided to pull my music and podcast from Spotify," she wrote. "Neil Young opened a door that I MUST walk through. I believe in freedom of speech. However, I find Joe Rogan problematic for reasons OTHER than his Covid interviews... FOR ME ITS ALSO HIS language around race. What I am talking about is RESPECT - who gets it and who doesn't."
"Paying musicians a Fraction of a penny? and HIM $100?" Arie questioned. "This shows the type of company they are and the company that they keep. I'm tired." Recently, Rogan caught a wave of backlash, including a clap back from The Daily Show's Trevor Noah, after he discussed why Black people are called "black" and determined who deserves the descriptor.
Read India Arie's post below.