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| Neil Young - an early photo from the 1970s (By Mark Easterbrook from WikiCommons) |
I remember talking to someone who turned out to know what he was talking about. He said that vinyl would outlive the compact disc. I pshawed the idea, sure that the convenience of those small CDs would prove more useful in the long run than the more cumbersome vinyl. It now turns out that that he was probably right. The geekiness of music collectors who prefer vinyl and the arrival of streaming have combined to isolate old-fashioned CDers like me, who want to be able to touch the medium we listen in. CDs, like us, may survive for a bit but not for long.
Neil Young and Joni Mitchell are two singers who I grew up with and whose CDs I have, as well as their songs on vinyl and cassette. Artists like Young and Mitchell now depend on streaming and new artists cannot become established without it, the ultimate democratic medium.
Spotify is the main streaming company these days. It started in Sweden in 2006 with very good intentions - diversity, inclusion and so forth - but has rapidly become a huge business with about 6,000 employees, offices all over the world and an annual revenue measured in billions of dollars. Their main dispute now is with artists over how much they should pay in royalties.
Spotify also makes money from podcasts and one of their biggest earners is Joe Rogan who signed a contract worth $100 million with the company and has a large number of loyal listeners prepared to cough up enough to fund his lavish lifestyle. (He is based in California, as are Mitchell and Young.) This involves him promoting what is often called 'misinformation' in which verifiable truth is well behind what appeals to people's prejudices. One of his guests was Alex Jones, who says that the Sandy Hook shootings were staged in order to impose gun control on Americans and has been successfully sued by the families of those who children were killed.
Now Neil Young – followed by Joni Mitchell – is objecting to having to share a platform with Rogan. He has told Spotify that ‘you can have Rogan or me – but not both’. Unsurprisingly, the company opted to stay with their popular podcaster instead of a couple of aging rock stars. Young and Mitchell have moved and Rogan has stayed on Spotify, which has tried to keep them all happy and has promised to weed out any 'misinformation' but has found that protecting free speech means making money even (especially?) if that speech involves spouting utter rubbish.
I have never listened to Rogan and have no time for the ideas he promotes. I got Covid jabs as soon as I could, test myself about once a week (always negative) and still listen to my Neil Young and Joni Mitchell CDs occasionally. Yet, I am not in favour of taking any of them off Spotify. They all contribute something and should be heard by all their various fans.
This is a classic example of freedom of speech versus the fight against misinformation. People who think that vaccines save lives are keen to promote the idea against those who think that they have been introduced in order to control the people. Edward Jenner was a pioneering scientist who introduced vaccines in England in the eighteenth century and they have saved millions of lives since then by protecting people against small pox, polio and other illnesses. He was a rebel, pioneer and experimenter whose work is now accepted by most of the world.
Except for those who think that vaccines are evil incarnate and were designed to control and manipulate us and will believe almost anything in support of their idiotic conspiracy theories. Let them think that way if that is what they want. I would probably not be much good at stopping them and find it almost impossible to have any sympathy for those who refuse vaccines and get sick, sometimes asking to be injected when it is already too late to save them form their stupidity.
Rogan once said he would endorse Bernie Sanders for US president because he had always been ‘consistent’. Young probably feels the same way. In a way, they are similar, both perfectionists who think that solutions to the world's problems are easy to identify and put into practice. In fact, solutions to our problems are often difficult. They involve disagreement, debate and discussion, which are the mainstays of democracy. This means allowing people to talk rubbish because it suits their mindset not the facts. Allowing people to believe 'pizzagate' theories - that the world is controlled by a well-hidden and secretive elite of paedophiles.
This is not to say that you can say anything you like. There are laws to protect minorities, mainly but not exclusively ethnic ones. If you promote hate speech, you may find yourself being prosecuted. I agree with this although we should err on the side of caution when it comes to restricting ideas. I would, for example, like to be able to hear a well-balanced argument in favour of racial discrimination. Not because I agree with it, but because I want to hear it. And to refute it.
The crux of the problem, as far as Spotify is concerned, is whether it should be neutral or partial. Should the medium control the message? Should people be free to tout any ideas they want and see which ones take hold or are companies that allow freedom of speech responsible if that leads to widespread misinformation that ought to be taken down? Moreover, who decides what is misinformation and should be controlled and, effectively, censored, and what is not?
No-one is suggesting that we should ban books because it leaves people free to write rubbish. Yet the character of a company determines who it gives shelter and space to. Is it compatible to have Neil Young and Joe Rogan on the same platform? Young thinks not. Rogan and Spotify are quite prepared to share space with him. Let them all speak and then make up your own mind. Sure, some people will believe anything that fits with their views rather than what is true. Better to let them think what they want and argue dispassionately and convincingly than to try and prevent them from thinking that way in the first place. Freedom should triumph over censorship.
Edwin Lerner
My other blog is diaryofatouristguide.blogspot.com
