Neil Young is goin' home. After finding a new dedicated resting place among SiriusXM's radio offerings, Apple Music has also declared itself the artist's official home, following Young's ultimatum to Spotify earlier this week.
Last night (January 27), the streamer seemingly claimed its stake on the legendary artist's catalogue in a tweet responding to its major competitor's decision to begin removing Young's music from its platform. Spotify was notably unenthusiastic about retaining Young's discography, when confronted with the choice between it and Joe Rogan's controversial podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, though wrote in a statement that it "hope[s] to welcome him back soon."
As CNN points out, Apple Music subscribers have also reported seeing Young's albums and playlists "promoted front and centre" in the streamer's "browse" section that now reads "We Love Neil Young."
Speaking on his decision to part ways with Spotify, Young wrote in a since-deleted post to his website, Neil Young Archives, "I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines — potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them. They can have Rogan or Young. Not both."
UPDATE (1/28, 5:29 p.m. ET): Young has issued a statement in a post to NYA titled "Spotify: More Songs and Less Sound," which urges listeners to switch to Apple Music, Amazon or Qobuz, in light of his music being removed from Spotify.
"When I left Spotify, I felt better," he wrote. "Amazon, Apple Music and Qobuz deliver up to 100% of the music today and it sounds a lot better than the shitty degraded and neutered sound of Spotify. If you support Spotify, you are destroying an art form. Business over art. Spotify plays artist's music at 5% of its quality and charges you like it was the real thing."
He added: "I have never been in favour of censorship. Private companies have the right to choose what they profit from, just as I can choose not to have my music support a platform that disseminates harmful information. I am happy and proud to stand in solidarity with the front-line health care workers who risk their lives every day to help others. As an unexpected bonus, I sound better everywhere else."
Spotify signed a $100 million deal with Rogan in 2020. Since then, he's hosted a variety of anti-vax guests on his show.
Throughout the week, Twitter saw trending hashtags #CancelSpotify and #DeleteSpotify used in response to Young's removal. Incidentally, the streamer has seen a dip in stock values over the last five days, according to Nasdaq.
See the tweet below.
Last night (January 27), the streamer seemingly claimed its stake on the legendary artist's catalogue in a tweet responding to its major competitor's decision to begin removing Young's music from its platform. Spotify was notably unenthusiastic about retaining Young's discography, when confronted with the choice between it and Joe Rogan's controversial podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, though wrote in a statement that it "hope[s] to welcome him back soon."
As CNN points out, Apple Music subscribers have also reported seeing Young's albums and playlists "promoted front and centre" in the streamer's "browse" section that now reads "We Love Neil Young."
Speaking on his decision to part ways with Spotify, Young wrote in a since-deleted post to his website, Neil Young Archives, "I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines — potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them. They can have Rogan or Young. Not both."
UPDATE (1/28, 5:29 p.m. ET): Young has issued a statement in a post to NYA titled "Spotify: More Songs and Less Sound," which urges listeners to switch to Apple Music, Amazon or Qobuz, in light of his music being removed from Spotify.
"When I left Spotify, I felt better," he wrote. "Amazon, Apple Music and Qobuz deliver up to 100% of the music today and it sounds a lot better than the shitty degraded and neutered sound of Spotify. If you support Spotify, you are destroying an art form. Business over art. Spotify plays artist's music at 5% of its quality and charges you like it was the real thing."
He added: "I have never been in favour of censorship. Private companies have the right to choose what they profit from, just as I can choose not to have my music support a platform that disseminates harmful information. I am happy and proud to stand in solidarity with the front-line health care workers who risk their lives every day to help others. As an unexpected bonus, I sound better everywhere else."
Spotify signed a $100 million deal with Rogan in 2020. Since then, he's hosted a variety of anti-vax guests on his show.
Throughout the week, Twitter saw trending hashtags #CancelSpotify and #DeleteSpotify used in response to Young's removal. Incidentally, the streamer has seen a dip in stock values over the last five days, according to Nasdaq.
See the tweet below.
