Graham Nash says that estranged partner David Crosby was the first artist to raise a red flag regarding Spotify's gross underpayment to artists for their music streaming across the online platform. The disbanded Crosby, Stills, & Nash made a rare show of unity behind Neil Young when he demanded his music be taken off the streaming platform, accusing the service of spreading false information about Covid via Joe Rogan's podcast.
Nash gave credit where credit was due, saying that Crosby was the first to go public about the pittance artists were receiving through streaming: “Crosby, basically on our behalf, has been rallying against Spotify because of the amount of money that they don’t pay musicians. As a several-billion-dollar company, all they do is play other people’s music and pay them very little. And then when Neil came upon Joe Rogan letting people express opinions saying that the vaccinations don’t work and masks don’t work, and all that stuff that Neil has been upset with Joe Rogan and we totally agree. And that’s why we took our music from Spotify also. But it started out with Crosby talking about how much they didn’t pay musicians.”
Graham Nash says that musicians predicted the digital revolution long before their record companies recognized it, by which time it was too late. Nash told us that it serves the record companies right for being so slow in understanding and embracing the new technology: “We tried to tell the record companies that this digital revolution was coming and they took no notice of anybody, and so got stuck behind the 8-ball. And record companies, like, the big, y'know, CBS and Warner Brothers and all. . . don't exist anymore. They don't want physical product. They want it all to be a digital download.”
