Apple Music Highlights Neil Young's Music Amid Spotify Controversy

pcmag.com:

Apple has declared its music streaming platform "the home of Neil Young" following the famed musician's departure from Spotify over the company's decision to stand by Joe Rogan.

The Verge reports that over the last week Apple Music has sent push notifications encouraging subscribers to listen to Young's latest album, created playlists dedicated to the artist's decades-long career, and tweeted about the availability of Young's entire catalog on its platform.

Apple Music often highlights specific artists, so these efforts aren't unique in that regard, but there is effectively zero chance this spotlight on Young is unrelated to the spat with Spotify.

Young announced on Jan. 26 that he was pulling his music from Spotify because the platform had become "a very damaging force via its public misinformation and lies about COVID." He also encouraged other artists to do the same—and Joni Mitchell did just that on Jan. 28.

These announcements followed the publication of an open letter from 270 medical professionals calling for Spotify to " immediately establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform" in response to baseless claims shared on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast.

All of which leads us to the world's first $3 trillion company effectively trolling a competitor that's already lost $4 billion in market value because it sided with the creator of the world's most popular podcast over a musician who values accurate information over streaming revenues.

Young also isn't pulling any punches: He says on his website that forcing his fans to use other streaming music services is a good thing because Spotify "continues to peddle the lowest quality in music reproduction" and that his music will now "live