Back in January 2022, Neil Young famously threatened to — and then did — remove his music from Spotify over vaccine misinformation spread through the platform's exclusive hosting of Joe Rogan's podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. A handful of his contemporaries, like Joni Mitchell and, for a short time, Crosby, Stills and Nash, followed suit, supporting Young in his protest of the streaming giant.
Spotify recently negotiated a deal with Rogan that will allow other The Joe Rogan Experience to stream on additional platforms. Consequently, Young has decided to put his music back on Spotify.
UPDATE (3/20, 1:07 p.m. ET): A week after the announcement, Young's music is now officially back on the streaming platform — where you can enjoy it in "low res" if you're into that sort of thing.
He announced the news in a post on his Neil Young Archives website last night (March 12). While lamenting the platform's audio quality, the legend explained that he can't remove his music from Apple and Amazon in the same way he did Spotify, "because my music would have very little streaming outlet to music lovers at all." Here's what he wrote in full:
Spotify, the #1 streamer of low res music in the world — Spotify where you get less quality than we made, will now be home of my music again.
My decision comes as music services Apple and Amazon have started serving the same disinformation podcast features I had opposed at SPOTIFY.
I cannot just leave Apple and Amazon, like I did Spotify, because my music would have very little streaming outlet to music lovers at all, so I have returned to Spotify, in sincere hopes that Spotify sound quality will improve and people will be able to hear and feel all the music as we made it. Qobuz and Tidal, where my music is presented, are all High res as well.
I hope all you millions of Spotify users enjoy my songs! They will now all be there for you except for the full sound we created.
Hopefully Spotify will turn to Hi Res as the answer and serve all the music to everyone. Spotify, you can do it! Really be #1 in all ways. You have the music and the listeners!!!! Start with a limited Hi res tier and build from there!
Thanks for your support folks!
Neil
As of press time, Young's music hasn't yet returned to the platform. He and Crazy Horse are preparing to release a new album, Fu##in Up, recorded at Toronto's Rivoli — which they're supporting with the COVID-conscious songwriting great's first extensive tour since the onset of the pandemic after he slowly began to return to performing over the past year.