Neil Young is bringing his music back to Spotify more than two years after he requested it be removed from the platform, the singer-songwriter announced on Tuesday (March 12).
In January 2022, Young published an open letter asking Spotify to take down his catalog, citing what he called the spread of vaccine misinformation on the hugely popular Joe Rogan experience podcast, which was then hosted exclusively on the streaming platform. Several other artists, including Joni Mitchell, Indie.Arie and Young's Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young bandmates David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, followed, although the music of CSN/CSN&Y and of Arie has since been restored to service. Mitchell's catalog remains absent.
In a new post on the Neil Young Archives website, the legendary artist said that the end of Spotify's exclusive deal with Rogan led to his decision to bring his music back to the service. “My decision comes as music services Apple and Amazon have begun to offer the same misinformation podcast features that I had opposed on Spotify,” the post reads – a clear reference to Joe Rogan experiencethough Young never mentions it by name.
“I can't just leave Apple and Amazon like I did Spotify because my music would have very little streaming output to music lovers, so I've returned to Spotify, with the sincere hope that Spotify's sound quality will improve and the people will be able to hear and feel all the music as we made it,” Yang continued, before calling out Qobuz and Tidal, where his catalog lives, as “High Definition” streaming options.
Young concludes his post by stating his hope that Spotify will “turn to Hi Res as the answer and serve all music to everyone. Spotify, you can do it! Truly number 1 in every way. You have the music and the listeners!!!! Start with a limited Hi res level and build from there!”
Spotify announced plans to launch a HiFi tier in February 2021, although those plans have yet to materialize. In June 2023, Bloomberg reported that the streaming giant would eventually launch the product later this year, but the company declined to comment when contacted Advertising sign – and the calendar flipped without the tier materializing.
Young has long been a proponent of hi-res audio, even launching his own (now defunct) hi-res audio capture platform, Pono, in 2015 before shutting it down two years later.
In September, Advertising sign estimated that the absence of Young's catalog on Spotify had cost him approximately $300,000 in lost recorded music and publishing rights up to that point.
At the time of publication, Young's music catalog had not yet been restored to Spotify, which did not immediately respond. Advertising signhis request for comment.
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