David Crosby and Stephen Stills are joining their former bandmates Graham Nash and Neil Young in requesting the removal of their music from Spotify. “We support Neil and we agree with him that there is dangerous disinformation being aired on Spotify’s Joe Rogan podcast,” the members of Crosby, Stills & Nash said in a statement. “While we always value alternate points of view, knowingly spreading disinformation during this global pandemic has deadly consequences. Until real action is taken to show that a concern for humanity must be balanced with commerce, we don’t want our music—or the music we made together—to be on the same platform.”
According to a press release, Crosby and Stills are seeking the removal of their respective solo catalogs, as well as music from Crosby & Nash, Crosby Stills & Nash, and Crosby, Still, Nash & Young.
Neil Young’s music got removed from Spotify at the end of January after he accused the platform of “spreading fake information about vaccines.” Yesterday, Graham Nash requested the removal of his solo music, too, stating, “Having heard the Covid disinformation spread by Joe Rogan on Spotify, I completely agree with and support my friend, Neil Young and I am requesting that my solo recordings be removed from the service.”
Crosby tweeted recently that he supports Young’s Spotify boycott. He also indicated he may have trouble getting the music off the streaming platform because he sold his catalog.
Still, Crosby and Young have feuded publicly in the past. Back in 2019, Young told AARP, “Crosby should write an introspective book: Why People Won’t Talk to Me Anymore. He made a lot of great music for a long time. I don’t know what happened with David. I got nothing to say.” Later, in 2021, Crosby said to The Guardian, “Well he’s probably the most self-centered, self-obsessed, selfish person I know. He only thinks about Neil, period. That’s the only person he’ll consider. Ever!”
Crosby and Graham Nash have also had their differences, with Nash telling Billboard in 2016, “Right now, I don’t want anything to do with Crosby at all. It’s just that simple.”
Read “In Praise of Neil Young’s Eternal Battle With the Music Industry” and “Will Neil Young and Joni Mitchell’s Departure Spark a Bigger Spotify Exodus?” on the Pitch.