As protest against the famous Joe Rogan podcast, which was giving false informations about the Covid-19 during the Pandemic, Neil Young removed in January 2022, all his discography from Spotify, because the UFC commentator had a contract with the streaming service at the time and his podcast only was available there.
A few months after that decision, Young even told Howard Stern that he would never back on the platform again but now he announced his return. But according to him, he made this decision because now Joe Rogan podcast is now available in other platforms too like Apple Music and Amazon.
So since he can’t just take his discography from the biggest streaming services in the world, he decided to make his music available again in Spotify. He also took the opportunity to criticize again the sound quality of Spotify, which he thinks doesn’t present his songs the way they were really recorded to the listeners.
What Neil Young said about returning to Spotify
The musician published a text on his official website last March 12, which was later deleted, which announced his return to Spotify but his music is not available there yet.
“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 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!” Neil Young said.
