Following the lead of artists like Neil Young, Graham Nash, and Joni Mitchell, the rock band Failure have decided to take their music off Spotify following backlash from Joe Rogan’s release of a podcast episode spreading COVID misinformation. The band cited the platform’s unwillingness to pay artists more money for their work, alongside their financial struggles resultant from the pandemic as reasons for parting ways with Spotify.
In a Facebook post, Failure said that they have had issues with Spotify since the beginning, saying they give artists “a microscopic fraction of the money being generated by their music on the platform.” Failure reportedly struggled with the moral dilemmas that arose from Spotify’s COVID controversy, and how the canceling of their shows due to the pandemic served as a “massive financial blow to the band.”
“The vast majority of venues on our upcoming tour are requiring proof of vaccination or a negative test to see our show,” they said. “We simply cannot square Spotify’s insistence on spreading misinformation about something that directly endangers our band’s supply chain, namely, human beings in a room with big speakers.”
They continued to critique the streamer, “Of course, no system or business is perfect, but we have alternatives to Spotify that allow the band to be compensated in a more sustainable way, and without the need to associate ourselves with dangerous lies about public health policy.
In the same post, the band urged their fans to purchase their music on Bandcamp and to stream their music through Apple and other streaming services.
Leave a Comment