Boston musicians respond to the Spotify and Joe Rogan controversy

To Spotify or not to Spotify? That's the question artists are asking themselves these days, after Neil Young started a boycott of the streaming platform.

Young levied an ultimatum over the platform's decision to continue hosting Joe Rogan's podcast, expressing concerns over misinformation around COVID and the vaccines being spread, but Spotify chose to stick with Rogan. As a result, Young, and a number of other prominent musicians responded by pulling their music off the platform.

But for younger, less successful artists, the decision becomes about more than just the moral high ground. We discuss how artists are thinking about their role in this latest controversy with George Howard, distinguished professor of music business management at Berklee College of Music, Dreion, a Boston-based singer songwriter and Berklee College of Music alumn, and Damon Krukowski, a longtime member of the Boston music scene, first with the band Galaxie 500, and now half of the musical duo Damon & Naomi.