The music world has become the latest COVID-19 battleground, with Neil Young and Kid Rock \u2014 performers who sing very different tunes about the \u2026<\/b>
\nThe music world has become the latest COVID-19 battleground, with Neil Young and Kid Rock \u2014 performers who sing very different tunes about the best way to confront the pandemic \u2014 setting down their six strings and picking up headlines. Spotify removed Young’s music from its service last week after the \u201cHeart of Gold\u201d singer gave it an ultimatum, saying it could not provide a platform to both him and Joe Rogan because of what he called COVID-19 misinformation from the popular podcast host. \u201cI am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines \u2014 potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them,\u201d Young,76, said in an open letter. The move by the Grammy Hall of Famer kicked off a weeklong back-and-forth with Spotify, which sided with Rogan but acknowledged it had a \u201cgreat responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators.\u201d The altercation has rapidly ballooned into a multi-artist protest. \u201cWoodstock\u201d songwriter Joni Mitchell and guitarist Nils Lofgren joined Young’s effort, pulling their song catalogs from Spotify in a show of unity. On Sunday, Spotify announced it would add a content advisory to podcasts that feature discussions about the coronavirus, which has killed more than 850,000 people in the United States. And Rogan, whose show, \u201cThe Joe Rogan Experience,\u201d reportedly boasts an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, said in an Instagram post that same day that he would work to balance \u201ccontroversial viewpoints\u201d on his podcast. The faceoff with Spotify was hardly out of character for politically active Young, whose Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song \u201cOhio,\u201d which he wrote in response to the deadly 1970 National Guard shootings at Kent State University, has been dubbed the \u201cgreatest protest record\u201d of all time. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to think of anybody whose activism has been part of the conversation in that particular way for that long,\u201d Danny Goldberg, a music industry expert who managed artists including Nirvana and Bonnie Raitt, said in a Monday interview. The Farm Aid co-founder\u2019s showdown with Spotify came just days after more than 200 health care professionals urged the streaming service to take action against COVID-19 vaccine misinformation that they said was spread on Rogan\u2019s show. Young moving the needle speaks to \u201cthe power of music and popular culture,\u201d said longtime Boston Globe culture writer James Sullivan, \u201cto get ideas across that sort of the grownups, the scientists, the politicians and the leaders cannot always get across.\u201d \u201cHe knows the power of his platform,\u201d Sullivan said. In the same week that Young\u2019s COVID-19\u2013related clash was splashed across front pages, Kid Rock was climbing the charts with his latest controversial single. The entertainer, who was born Robert Ritchie, released \u201cWe The People,\u201d an F-bomb-heavy anthem ripping White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci, President Biden and COVID-19 mitigation efforts. The song, which includes the anti-Biden chant \u201cLet\u2019s go Brandon\u201d in the chorus, quickly shot to the top spot on iTunes. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to say whether he\u2019s taking a page out of Neil Young’s playbook, but he’s flipping the idea of protesting on its head,\u201d Sullivan said. Following the release of the song, Kid Rock \u2014 a vocal supporter of former President Trump \u2014 vowed not to bring his nationwide concert tour to any stops that had vaccination mandates. \u201cI do think that someone like Kid Rock is well aware that if he sticks his neck out on behalf of the anti-vaxxers, that will commercially be a win for him\u201d among his enthusiastic fans who see him as a \u201cflag-waving patriot,\u201d said Sullivan, author of the 2018 book \u201cWhich Side Are You On? 20th Century American History in 100 Protest Songs.\u201d \u201cOpportunists\u201d such as Kid Rock have learned \u201chow to take those lessons that guys like Neil Young have known for 50 years and make political statements through their music, and push buttons that maybe haven’t otherwise been pushed, or push them harder,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cRight now, the hot-button issue is vaccine mandates, so he jumped on it.\u201d The potential risk for performers, experts say, is striking the wrong chord with their fans by mixing resistance and rock music. \u201cMost performers don\u2019t want to enter the fray of where one political party turns them into a football, because you\u2019re going to cut off revenue in the process,\u201d Eric Schiffer, chairman of the Los Angeles-based firm Reputation Management Consultants, told ITK. While the Chicks, then the Dixie Chicks, were virtually blacklisted by country music radio stations in 2003 for their opposition to the invasion of Iraq and criticism of then-President George W. Bush, Goldberg said in recent years, and particularly in the post-Trump era, music stars have faced little blowback for belting out their political views. \u201cIt seems for the most part like it’s been a low risk for artists, that their fans kind of know who they are. People listen to music because of the music,\u201d said Goldberg, a progressive activist who penned the 2021 book \u201cBloody Crossroads: Art, Entertainment, and Resistance to Trump.\u201d Mentioning Bruce Springsteen \u2019s previous criticism of Trump and Eric Clapton making a vow similar to Kid Rock\u2019s not to perform at any venue requiring proof of a COVID-19 vaccination, Goldberg said, \u201cThere are people who go to Springsteen concerts who don\u2019t agree with what he felt about Trump, but who like Springsteen. And I still like Eric Clapton’s music even though I\u2019m horrified by his whole reaction to the pandemic.\u201d The music industry, like many others, has faced countless challenges amid the pandemic. Performers were rocked by shutdowns, with venues around the globe closing their doors as COVID-19 spread worldwide in early 2020. Some of music\u2019s biggest names, including Springsteen and the Foo Fighters, required audience members to be vaccinated in order to attend their shows. Singer Jason Isbell said last year that he would require proof of vaccinations for his performances because \u201cif you\u2019re dead, you don\u2019t have any freedoms at all.\u201d Other entertainers decried pandemic mitigation efforts and getting shots to protect against being hospitalized or dying from COVID-19. Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber said last year that he was forced to close his production of \u201cCinderella\u201d because of the \u201cimpossible conditions\u201d imposed by the British government during the coronavirus. Clapton released \u201cThis Has Gotta Stop,\u201d a song critical of lockdowns and other public health measures, last year. While boycotting Spotify could be considered \u201ccareer suicide\u201d for many singers, Schiffer said, it could actually bring renewed relevance to some more established and senior talents. „I think you’ll see more artists find ways to make the political attention more beneficial to them financially and to their brand,\u201d he said. For 51-year-old „All Summer Long“ singer Kid Rock, becoming an \u201cattack dog of the other side\u201d is a way of endearing himself politically to his right-leaning fanbase. \u201cKid Rock doubling down and saying he’s only going to play in venues that don’t have a mandate, that just makes him that much more beloved by his base on the right. He\u2019s playing it on the reverse side \u2014 he\u2019s using it as a revenue stream,\u201d said PR guru Schiffer. Musicians such as Young, Sullivan said, \u201cwill take consequences commercially if by expressing their politics they lose a few people. Those are the people who feel like integrity matters more than their bottom line.\u201d In a fragmented media landscape where protest songs might not break through, the dustup with Spotify could give a glimpse of what the future of music\u2019s political activism could look like. Artists are going to speak out on political issues, and they\u2019ll use whatever the medium at the time is, Goldberg said. \u201cI think there\u2019s a benefit to being true to the identity that you projected to fans,\u201d Goldberg said of both Young and Kid Rock. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think that somebody likes the melody or lyric better because of somebody\u2019s politics.\u201d<\/p>\n