India.Arie Clarifies Spotify Boycott Amid Joe Rogan Controversy
India.Arie has taken to Instagram to further break down the reasoning behind her Spotify boycott. The singer clarified her issue with the streaming platform goes beyond Joe Rogan’s podcast allegedly spewing false information about COVID-19. With an Instagram story upload shared on Thursday (Feb. 3) Arie highlighted clips of Rogan using racial slurs against Black people and focused on his racist behavior as well as Spotify’s low pay to music artists.
“I empathize with the people leaving for the covid disinformation reasons, and I think that they should. I also think that Joe Rogan has the right to say what he wants to say. I also think that I have the right to say what I want to say,” said the Grammy Award-winning singer.
More from VIBE.com
She continued, “Spotify is built on the back of the music streaming. So, they take this money that’s built from streaming and they pay this guy $100 million, but they pay us .003 percent of the penny? Just take me off.”
Last Saturday (Jan. 29), she announced her boycott of Spotify, using the hashtag #DeleteSpotify and detailing her experience in the music industry. In a Twitter thread, she aligned her decision with that of singer Neil Young and thanked him for his “activist spirit.” Young moved to erase his musical library from Spotify as long as the platform hosts The Joe Rogan Experience. Arie also shared the decision on Instagram the next day, saying, “I wonder who else is tired.”
The Twitter thread garnered attention, which the “Brown Skin” singer did not expect, leading to her to further address the boycott in the aforementioned Instagram story.
“I’m actually, to be honest with you, surprised that my statements were picked up. I thought people weren’t going to listen to me…that’s what I’m used to in the industry. But, I’m glad that I am being heard and for that reason, I want to clarify my statements. Again, this is why. Watch this,” she explained before airing a compilation video of Rogan using the N-word and calling Black people apes.
Rob Kim/Getty Images
She continued to express her opinion that “He shouldn’t even be saying it. So, the confluence of energies comes into play here. So now we have this person who is offensive to a lot of people, who’s paid $100 million. The backbone of Spotify is the music. So, you pay the musicians .003–.005 percent of a penny and take this money generated over here, because all of the rest of it goes somewhere. The subscription fees go somewhere. So you take this money and use it to invest in this guy? Do what you want, but take me off. Or pay me too. And, I don’t just mean me, I mean us. Artists like me, pay us too. Pay podcasters of color too.”
Watch the Instagram story upload saved as a highlight on India Arie’s account here and tune in below for another breakdown on “The Truth” singer’s Spotify boycott.
Solve the daily Crossword
