Spotify, Joe Rogan and the Wild West of online audio

NEIL YOUNG was five years old when, in 1951, he was partially paralysed by polio. Joni Mitchell was nine when she was hospitalised by the same illness around the same time. Both grew up to become famous singers—and, lately, prominent campaigners against anti-vaccine misinformation. The two musicians, followed by a handful of others, have withdrawn their music from the world’s biggest streaming service in protest at a podcast that gave airtime to anti-vaxxers.

“The Joe Rogan Experience”, to which Spotify bought exclusive rights in 2020 for a reported $100m, hosted vaccine sceptics and promoted dubious remedies such as ivermectin, which Mr Rogan himself tried out when he caught covid last year. At the time of writing Mr Rogan, Spotify’s most popular podcaster, had promised to “balance things out” in future interviews, but was still on air, to the irritation of his critics (including some Spotify staff, who in the past have accused him of sins including transphobia). Mr Young, Ms Mitchell and a few others were holding out.

The bust-up looks like a gift to Spotify’s rivals. Yet it has raised questions about content moderation which could prove tricky—and rather expensive—for all audio-streaming platforms.

As the biggest streamer, with 180m paid subscribers, Spotify has power over artists. Mr Young says he gets...