FILE - Joni Mitchell arrives at the 2015 Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala in Beverly Hills, Calif. Feb. 7, 2015. Joni Mitchell said Friday, Jan. 28, 2022 she seeks to remove all of her music in Spotify in solidarity with Neil Young, who ignited a protest against the streaming service for airing a podcast that featured a figure who has spread misinformation about the coronavirus.
NEW YORK (AP) — Joni Mitchell said Friday she is seeking to remove all of her music from Spotify in solidarity with Neil Young, who ignited a protest against the streaming service for airing a podcast that featured a figure who has spread misinformation about the coronavirus.
Mitchell, who like Young is a California-based songwriter who had much of her success in the 1970s, is the first prominent musician to join Young's effort.
Keep scrolling for photos of Joni Mitchell through the years
"Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives," Mitchell said Friday in a message posted on her website. "I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue."
Following Young's action this week, Spotify said it had policies in place to remove misleading content from its platform and has removed more than 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.
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But the service has said nothing about comedian Joe Rogan, whose podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience" is the centerpiece of the controversy. Last month Rogan interviewed on his podcast Dr. Robert Malone, an infectious disease specialist who has been banned from Twitter for spreading COVID misinformation.
Rogan is one of the streaming service's biggest stars, with a contract that could earn him more than $100 million.
Young had called on other artists to support him following his action. While Mitchell, 78, is not a current hitmaker, the Canadian native's Spotify page said she had 3.7 million monthly listeners to her music. Her songs "Big Yellow Taxi" and "A Case of You" have both been streamed more than 100 million times on the service.
In a message on his website Friday, Young said that "when I left Spotify, I felt better."
"Private companies have the right to choose what they profit from, just as I can choose not to have my music support a platform that disseminates harmful information," he wrote. "I am happy and proud to stand in solidarity with the front line health care workers who risk their lives every day to help others."
There was no immediate response to a request for comment from Spotify.
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Photos: Joni Mitchell through the years
1975: Joni Mitchell, Roger McGuinn, Richi Havens, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan
Musicians Roger McGuinn, Joni Mitchell, Richi Havens, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan perform the finale of the The Rolling Thunder Revue, a tour headed by Dylan, in Dec. 1975. (AP Photo)
1988: Joni Mitchell
Singer Joni Mitchell pauses during an interview in Toronto, May 2, 1988. After a 20-year career, Mitchell's latest album, "Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm," shows the Canadian singer's evolution into a tougher, more issue-oriented chronicler of the era. (AP Photo)
1995: Joni Mitchell
In this Dec. 6, 1995 file photo, singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell poses with the Century Award at the 1995 Billboard Music Awards in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Nadel, File)
1996: Joni Mitchell
Folk-rocking musician Joni Mitchell, Canada, at a news conference in Stockholm, Sweden, May 7, 1996, the day prior to receiving the yearly Polar Music Prize. (AP Photo/Soren Andersson)
1998: Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell performs at Pauley Pavilion, Thursday, May 21, 1998 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
2000: Joni Mitchell
Singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell acknowledges applause at the beginning of Turner Network Television's "All-Star Tribute to Joni Mitchell," Thursday, April 6, 2000, at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. (AP Photo/Suzanne Plunkett)
2007: Joni Mitchell, Wayne Shorter
Joni Mitchell, left, and Wayne Shorter, right, perform during an all-star tribute concert for Herbie Hancock, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2007, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Rene Macura)
2015: Joni Mitchell
FILE - Joni Mitchell arrives at the 2015 Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala in Beverly Hills, Calif. Feb. 7, 2015. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP, File)
2018: Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell presented with a birthday cake on stage at JONI 75: A Birthday Celebration on Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
2021: Joni Mitchell at Kennedy Center Honors
2021 Kennedy Center honoree singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell poses on the red carpet at the Medallion Ceremony for the 44th Annual Kennedy Center Honors at the Library of Congress, on Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
2021: Joni Mitchell
Folk music legend Joni Mitchell arrives at the 44th Kennedy Center Honors at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021. The 2021 Kennedy Center honorees include Mitchell, Motown Records creator Berry Gordy, "Saturday Night Live" mastermind Lorne Michaels, actress-singer Bette Midler, and opera singer Justino Diaz. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
2021: Joni Mitchell and President Joe Biden
Folk music legend Joni Mitchell visits with President Joe Biden during the Kennedy Center Honorees Reception at the White House in Washington, Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
