Spotify Stock Plunges, Then Recovers Amid Subscriber Cancel Campaign

Spotify shares touched a 52-week low Friday before bouncing back to close marginally higher at $172.98 amid a cancel campaign spurred by Spotify's showdown with Neil Young over the singer-songwriter’s ultimatum that the service choose between him and podcast host Joe Rogan over COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.

Numerous Spotify subscribers posted their subscription cancellations on Twitter with the hashtag #Spotifydeleted. Spotify customer support reportedly struggled with the number of cancellations. Paul McCartney guitarist Brian Ray tweeted a “how-to” Thursday for canceling a Spotify account: “The only easy way to leave @Spotify is to remove your credit card payments in profile settings. They are getting swarmed and they will not help you cancel.” Twitter user @red_1126 posted a screenshot of Spotify’s Contact us page, showing a message saying the service was getting “a lot of contacts so may be slow to respond.”

A Spotify-curated Neil Young Radio playlist came up on the service Friday, but Young’s solo recordings weren’t on the list. Artist recordings from Young’s genre remained on Neil Young Radio, including Harry Nilsson, The Band, Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan, Warren Zevon and Crosby, Stills and Nash. The Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young recording of "Our House" also remained. Other Young collaborations, with The Band, Jimmy Fallon, Pearl Jam and songs from soundtracks were available via a search for Young.

Digital Music News reported in April Spotify “quietly” removed 40 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast with no reason given. Spotify signed Rogan in May 2020 to an exclusive deal reportedly valued at over $100 million (see 2007290047). Pivotal Research Group analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak told investors the following July that Spotify stock soared 70% since the Rogan signing.

Spotify competitors jumped on the Young opportunity. Apple Music's Twitter account Friday was encouraging the singer-songwriter's fans to “listen to his entire catalog” on its service, illustrating the post with a video cycle of all of Young's album covers. SiriusXM said Thursday it would have an exclusive limited run with "Neil Young Radio" for a week on SiriusXM and for a month on the SXM app (see 2201270004).

Qobuz emailed Friday that Young's discography is available to listen to in "Hi-Res" on its service via an "essentials playlist." Qobuz gave several quotes from Young, a longtime proponent of high-resolution audio, including one affirming Qobuz as "one of the earliest Hi-Res streamers." Spotify didn’t respond to questions Friday.