Amid the pandemic of the past two years, a number of contentious issues have been dividing people since day one. One of the most pressing at the moment surrounds that of the vaccine, and the fact that streaming giant Spotify is at the centre of this debate should hardly be a surprise to anyone.
A company not light on their fair share of controversies, hosting The Joe Rogan Experience was never going to make things easier for them. One of the most popular podcasts on the planet, it has Rogan talking to a whole host of names from a variety of perspectives. What’s caused this particular problem is a recent episode with scientist Robert Malone, who helped make mRNA vaccines. Malone made a number of highly disputed claims about the covid-19 vaccine’s efficacy that have caused many complaints from scientific communities.
In response, a number of artists have asked for their music to be removed from the platform, criticising Spotify’s lack of response against Rogan. Highly-influential singer-songwriter Neil Young started the fire so to speak, releasing an open letter that criticised Spotify for hosting platforms that were “spreading false information about the vaccines“. People who have followed suit include similarly acclaimed artists such as Joni Mitchell, the comedian Stewart Lee, and folk-rock trio Crosby, Stills and Nash.
Now, you may be wondering where an ex-member of family-friendly folk group Mumford & Sons comes into all of this. Winston Marshall left the group last summer after they all received backlash online due to a tweet Marshall posted, wherein he praised right-wing author Andy Ngo. Last Thursday, an essay Marshall wrote was published online, entitled “When Artists Become the Censors“.
When artists start censoring each other, who can be surprised that self-censorship becomes the norm? Me for @bariweiss’ Common Sense https://t.co/aGZ6F9ht3a — Winston Marshall (@MrWinMarshall) February 3, 2022
In the almost 1,500 word essay, Marshall criticises attempts to deplatform certain artists for their views, comparing the situation to the likes of Soviet Russia, but arguing that this time around the power of censorship is in the hands of the artists, not the government. He criticises Young as a hypocrite, noting how his music is still available on Amazon and Apple streaming platforms, companies with their own troubled history in terms of how they treat their workers.
Blaming the situation on a “groupthink“ mentality within the industry itself, Marshall notes other examples where he believes prominent artists have been shamed for going outside the accepted mentality, such as Kanye West’s views on Trump and J.K. Rowling on trans people, saying “Criticism is, of course, fine, but attempts to deplatform have gone too far“.
In the end, he argues that, instead of attempting to deplatform Rogan, Young should have started his own podcast, saying that “More speech rather than less is the classical liberal tradition of getting closer to the truth“.
If you want to read Marshall’s essay in full, it can be found here. Whether you agree with him or not, many people are just glad that Spotify’s time of reckoning finally seems to be nigh, with some even arguing that Young hasn’t criticised the platform enough, what with their notorious history of underpaying artists not being mentioned by his boycott. Either way, we’ll have to wait and see what comes of this, but it seems something’s going to have to change about this controversial company in any case.
