In the digital space, everyone can hear you stream
Neil Young’s streams are up 50 per cent since the Canadian-born performer made Spotify choose between him and controversial podcaster Joe Rogan.
Staking out the high moral ground is a financial win for septuagenarian singer Neil Young, with global streaming of his music surging since he pulled it from Spotify in protest at claimed Covid misinformation, exclusive analysis for The Australian shows.
One of the men who helped build the platform into a transnational powerhouse, former chief economist Will Page, has run the ruler over demand for Young’s songs and unearthed the surprising finding: streams are up 50 per cent since the Canadian-born performer made Spotify choose between him and controversial podcaster Joe Rogan.
While Spotify agreed to take down his music as well as that of his contemporary Joni Mitchell, who followed Young out the door, both artists can still be accessed on the site.
Spotify accounted for 60 per cent of Young’s streaming base worldwide but assuming it follows through and removes him, he still appears to have profited handsomely from the take-up of his distinctive work elsewhere.
It certainly helped that rival Apple Music promoted itself as the “home” of Neil Young while SiriusXM revived a channel dedicated to his songs.
On the industry-standard MRC data crunched by Mr Page, the 1.3 million daily streams of Young’s songs at the beginning of January climbed to two million.
“That’s remarkable, but there’s a twist,” he said. “If Young states that 60 per cent of his streaming income came from Spotify, that means he removed 60 per cent of his streaming base, yet grew his streaming volume by 50 per cent. And that suggests a lot of activity on competitor platforms. The question is, did consumers migrate to them to drive that activity?”
Mr Page said Young’s boycott of Spotify raised important questions about who really held the whip hand in the shape-shifting digital entertainment world. He should know: having joined the company in 2012 when it was a niche provider based in Sweden and Britain, he spent seven years growing it into today’s international behemoth boasting 172 million paying subscribers, nearly a third of the global total. His 2021 book, Tarzan Economics, is a treatise on entrepreneurship in the breathless digital era.
Young’s stand also touched on legal liability for what is streamed by service providers – a question set to “drag on for years” – and concern around content moderation that could adversely affect software valuations.
“When anyone asks me about podcasts, I always begin by quoting (the novelist and screenwriter) William Goldman, who famously said: ‘Nobody knows anything.’ It’s true,” Mr Page said. “We still don’t know what podcasts are, nor what they stand for. Even the name is a merging of “iPods” and “broadcasts” and neither are relevant to the current format.
“What we are seeing is a tug-of-war between those who believe in the open RSS feed distribution format which allows podcasts to travel anywhere, and those who pursue exclusive “walled garden” formats like Joe Rogan. Up until now, platforms viewed podcasts as someone else’s problem. The implications of the current fracas are simple: if you bought it, you own it and that brings responsibility.”
Young, 76, unleashed a storm in the music industry and on social media last week by insisting that his library of songs reaching back nearly 60 years be taken down by Spotify unless the platform severed ties with Rogan.
The star podcaster was under fire for spreading misinformation about the virus and vaccines – an assertion Mr Page disputes, saying he doubted that would be the understanding of anyone who took the time to listen to Rogan’s conversation-based show.
But attempts by Spotify to make amends by adding “content advisory” notices to podcasts about the pandemic and by Rogan promising to be more balanced failed to stem the backlash.
Young’s recording labelmate Mitchell, 78, followed his lead and insisted that Spotify remove her equally voluminous catalogue.
Taylor Swift, who quit the platform in 2014 for three years, angered that her music was free under its basic sign-on, is under pressure from sections of her huge fan base to walk, while there is speculation other big names – from Foo Fighters to Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle – will be next to go.
“We’ve been here before, with Taylor Swift removing her catalogue, and we’ll be here again,” Mr Page said. “Once the dust settles, we’ll learn Spotify has received more marketing than money can buy and growth will accelerate.”
More Coverage
Sixties icon Marianne Faithfull dies aged 78
The legendary singer best known for her hit song As Tears Go By, died at home in London surrounded by family
Michael Jackson — how Hollywood’s biggest biopic went off the wall
The Thriller star’s estate has made billions since his death despite unresolved allegations about child abuse. So why has the movie about his life been thrown into disarray?