India.Arie is the latest in a flurry of artists who are taking their music down from Spotify following the lead of Neil Young. While Young cited the ongoing vaccine misinformation being purveyed by Joe Rogan on Spotify’s popular The Joe Rogan Podcast as to why he’s removing his catalog from the platform, Arie finds Rogan problematic for more than his views on the COVID vaccine. Namely his language on race.
Arie is not only removing her solo recordings from the platform but also her podcast Songversation from the platform. She joins Young, Joni Mitchell, and Graham Nash in actively taking a stand with regards to their Spotify presence. Arie issued a scathing statement on her Instagram feed and wrote the following:
“I have decided to pull my music and podcast from Spotify,” Arie said in an Instagram post. “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, it’s 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 $100M? This shows the company that they are and the company that they keep. I’m tired.”
It’s an impressive statement from Arie, a four-time Grammy winner and multi-platinum selling artist. The dominoes seem to keep tipping for Spotify, whose new “content advisory” warnings, are clearly not enough of a move to satisfy the valid concern of a growing number of artists.
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.