Neil Young and Joni Mitchell have seen a streaming and sale increase on their catalogs following their decision to pull their catalogs from Spotify.
As previously reported, Young pulled his catalog from Spotify due to the Spotify-exclusive podcast The Joe Rogan Experience and its track record of spreading COVID misinformation.
Mitchell would soon follow and shared in a statement, “I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify. Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.”
Rolling Stone reports, “For the period of Jan. 27 through Feb. 3, Young saw a four percent rise in his on-demand streaming numbers and a whopping 80 percent rise in album sales. Even without Spotify, Young’s on-demand streaming numbers were impressive as he pulled in 5.6 million for that Jan. 27 through Feb. 3 period (he’d notched just over 5.3 million the previous week, while before that he typically hovered around four million streams).”
As for Mitchell, Rolling Stone noted, “[Mitchell] saw an even bigger jump — 32 percent — in her on-demand streaming numbers, which rose from 2.3 million to just over 3 million. Mitchell also saw a major rise in her album and digital track sales, the former jumping from 1,274 to 2,878 (a 125 percent change) and the latter leaping from 1,205 to 3,540 (a 193 percent change).”