And, in these troubling times, Id like to share a message of solidarity and hope.
Here it is: everyone sucks.
Some people more than others, certainly, but its still all of them.
The people all suck.
Dont worry, Ill keep it brief.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
Spotify andThe JREare spreading fake information about vaccines.
And, in this instance,Youngisright.
Surprising no one,Spotify sided with Rogan.
Neil Youngs music is off the platform.
I mean, what else wouldve happened?
After Neil Young left Spotify,Joni Mitchelland… uh, Bruce Springsteen guitarist…Nils Lofgrenfollowed suit.
Not exactly an exodus, but its some influential people.
In response to the above, Joe Roganreleased a video on Instagramwhere he effectively says sorry, not sorry.
Even if the open to part of that sentence is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
That, friends, is the briefest outline of the controversy I can provide.
Now, let me explain why everyone fucking sucks.
Lets begin with the least suckiest major player in this saga: Neil Young.
On one hand, respect to my king for making a stand.
How about you dont use this as an opportunityto promote people moving to Amazon Music?
The company is multitudes worse than Spotify.
If Neil Youngdidntsuck, hed remove his music from all streaming platforms.
Its not like he needs the cash, after all.
Im sorry to tell you this, but Neil Young sucks.
One of the reasons this whole saga has exploded is because the emotions Joe Rogan evokes.
The majority of people either compare him toa truth-telling freedom fighter, or sayhes an absolute fucking clown.
Theres little middle ground here.
The fact is hes just a vaguely sucky dude-bro with a popular podcast.
Tens and tens of millions of people listen to him by choice.
A newsroom with a fraction of his audience has a whole team of people cross-checking stories and providing accountability.
And if you think Joe Rogandoessuck?
Then you, friend, also suck.
And Joe Rogan himself?
Well, that mansucks.
Ah yes, now were onto the Godzilla of suckiness: Spotify.
Lets get this out the way first.
Im a firm believer this Joe Rogan/Neil Young saga is good for Spotify.
It increased its value by $6 billion and saw a 31% boost sales boost.
This is where the comparison with Nike folds though.
The Colin Kaepernick campaign was about highlighting someone trying to bring attention to injustices, to save lives.
What Joe Rogan has done is potentiallyput more lives in danger.
And Spotify is sitting here like its an impartial party.
In fact as this excellent piece by Ryan Broderick points out Spotify is Rogans publisher.
Because it has a responsibility as a media service to provide accurate information.
Instead, its using this controversy as a marketing tool.
Theres so much more we could go into here, but now is as good time to round up.
All together now: Spotify sucks.
And you know what?
The media involved in this debacle including yours truly also suck.
Friends, everyone sucks.
