Longtime E Street Band Member Nils Lofgren Pulls Music From Spotify, Encourages All Musicians to “Cut Ties” With Service

Nils Lofgren, a longtime guitarist for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, has announced that he’s pulling his music from Spotify.

He follows Neil Young — who announced Wednesday that he would remove his catalog in protest of COVID-19 misinformation being spread on Joe Rogan’s podcast — and Joni Mitchell, who followed in solidarity soon after.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

• Joe Rogan Responds to Podcast Controversy, Pledges to "Balance Things Out" in the Future

• Spotify to Add Content Advisory to Podcast Episodes That Include COVID-19 Discussions

• Joni Mitchell Says She Will Remove Music From Spotify: "I Stand In Solidarity With Neil Young"

Both musicians referred to an open letter sent to Spotify from 270 professionals in the scientific and medical communities, calling on the streaming service to address misinformation distributed on the platform.

In a statement shared to the Neil Young Archives on Saturday, Lofgren said: “A few days ago, my wife [Amy] and I became aware of Neil and [his wife] Daryl [Hannah] standing with hundreds of health care professionals, scientists, doctors and nurses in calling out Spotify for promoting lies and misinformation that are hurting and killing people.”

Lofgren noted that 27 years of his music had been taken off the service and that he is also reaching out to labels that own his earlier music to have that removed as well. The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Spotify for comment.

“Neil and I go back 53 years,” Lofgren’s statement continued. “Amy and I are honored and blessed to call Neil and Daryl friends, and knew standing with them was the right choice.”

The rock artist encouraged “all musicians, artists and music lovers everywhere, to stand with us all, and cut ties with Spotify.” He went on to call music “our planet’s sacred weapon, uniting and healing billions of souls every day.”

Click here to read the full article.