
Once you’re on a particular streaming platform, you’re likely to stay there because you’ve got your playlists, you’re familiar with it,” Simson said. “Spotify is probably counting on the inertia aspect. If one or two of them pulled their music, how many of Spotify's 172 million subscribers would actually delete their accounts? How many of its 381 million monthly users would stop listening? Drake has about 53.6 million monthly listeners.

The Weeknd, an extreme outlier, currently garners 86.6 million monthly listeners. Then there’s the question of how much impact one artist can have. Is losing one artist enough to force Spotify to change? Two days later, without a word from Rogan, Spotify began the process of removing the famed rocker’s music, including his best-known hits such as “Heart of Gold,” “Harvest Moon,” and “Rockin’ in the Free World.” “I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform,” Young wrote. After catching the coronavirus, Rogan also praised ivermectin, a medicine used to kill parasites in animals and humans that has no proven antiviral benefits. Specifically, Young cited Joe Rogan - who hosts The Joe Rogan Experience podcast - and has suggested healthy, young people shouldn’t get vaccinated.

Young started the scuffle when he posted a letter to his website Monday, addressed to his manager and an executive at his record label, demanding that his music catalog be removed from Spotify in response to “fake information about vaccines.”

The battle lasted two days, and Rogan won without making a peep. In the other stood Neil Young, the multi-Grammy-winning rock legend with a lifelong passion for progressive causes. In one corner was Joe Rogan, the stand-up comedian and former Fear Factor host turned provocative podcaster.
