<\/p>\n
\n\tIt\u2019s been nearly 20 months since Neil Young<\/a> pulled his music off Spotify and, according to Billboard<\/em>\u2019s estimate, the move has cost him about $300,000 so far in lost recorded music and publishing royalties. <\/p>\n \n\tOn Jan. 24, 2022, the singer-songwriter gave the streaming company an ultimatum<\/a>: \u201cYou can have Rogan or Young. Not both.\u201d Young blamed Rogan and his Spotify-exclusive podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience<\/em>, for spreading \u201cfake information about vaccines\u201d and putting the public\u2019s health at risk. Spotify acquiesced a few days later and removed Young\u2019s catalog from its platform.<\/p>\n \n\tOther artists in Young\u2019s circle of friends, such as Joni Mitchell<\/a> and Nils Lofgren<\/a>, also requested that Spotify remove their music from the platform \u2014 and remain off to this day. But Young\u2019s absence leaves the largest hole in Spotify\u2019s catalog: 45 studio albums, two EPs and 12 live albums as a solo artist and with his band Crazy Horse<\/a>, plus compilations and soundtracks, that includes such rock classics as \u201cCinnamon Girl,\u201d \u201cHeart of Gold\u201d and \u201cRockin\u2019 in a Free World.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tYoung\u2019s open letter<\/a> and demand for removal from Spotify attracted worldwide media attention and caused a brief spike in streams, but his departure from the platform<\/a> at the end of January 2022 created an immediate decline in his average stream rate \u2014 and it hasn\u2019t rebounded since, according to Luminate data. From 2021 to Sept. 21, 2023, Young\u2019s average weekly global on-demand audio streams declined 32% from 10.5 million to 7.1 million. The actual loss is deeper considering that weekly on-demand audio streams in the U.S., Young\u2019s largest market, increased 25% over that period.<\/p>\n