It has been a rough week for Spotify.
Neil Young pulled his musci from the platform on Wednesday due to it hosting Joe Rogan’s podcast which has been a home for the spread of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. And, Friday, Joni Mitchell followed suit.
And, according to an article on Variety.com, the streaming service saw its market capitalization fall by “about $2.1 billion over a three-day span,” in the wake of it all.
Per the report, Spotify shares “fell %6 from Jan. 26-28. Over the same time period, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 1.7% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.1%.”
Could this all be because Spotify rolled with Rogan, who has recently admitted to looking dumb in a COVID-19 discussion while also letting the world what it means to be Black, instead of Young?
Probably not entirely. At least, according to the Variety report, because it said Spotify stock was already “on the slide — having plummeted 25% year-to-date as of Jan. 25, the day before Young’s catalog was pulled.” The report said that investors seem to be shaken by the idea that the platform’s audience growth may be slowing. And, there’s some good news, per Variety, in that the stock did “rebound slightly Friday, closing up 1% to $172.98.”
But that slight uptick took place before Mitchell posted a letter to her site Friday titled, “I stand with Neil Young.”
“Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives,” Mitchell wrote. “I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.”
According to The Associated Press, Mitchell’s Canadian Spotify page said she has 3.7 million monthly listeners and her songs “Big Yellow Taxi” and “A Case of You” “have both been streamed more than 100 million times on the service.”
Young’s music was removed from the service on Wednesday after he took a stand against COVID-19 vaccine statements made on the podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
“I am doing this because Spotify is spreading false information about vaccines — potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them,” he wrote at the time, according to Variety. “
Earlier in January nearly 300 doctors, medical educators and scientists wrote an open letter to Spotify requesting Rogan’s podcast be removed to its spread of misinformation regarding COVID-19 and the coronavirus vaccines.
Rogan’s multi-year deal with Spotify for “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast is reportedly worth more than $100 million.
Read More: As Neil Young, Joni Mitchell leave in protest of Joe Rogan’s podcast, Spotify loses more