Rock and roll icon Neil Young has decided to return his music catalog to Spotify, the company he previously accused of enabling the spread of misinformation through the podcasts it hosts, particularly “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
In a stand against allowing contentious dialogue on COVID-19 and vaccination, the 78-year-old musician made headlines in January 2022 by demanding the removal of his tracks from the streaming service. Young’s ultimatum was stark: “Spotify can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”
“Spotify has recently become a very damaging force via its public misinformation and lies about COVID,” Mr. Young wrote at the time.
Spotify consented to Mr. Young’s request and withdrew his songs later that month. This action spurred solidarity from fellow artists Joni Mitchell and Nils Lofgren, who also pulled their music from the platform. In response, Mr. Rogan expressed regret through a video message, saying, “I am very sorry that they feel this way.”
In an unforeseen pivot, Mr. Young has reversed his previous decision citing a concern that technology giants Apple and Amazon are also platforms for similar misinformation. Despite his reservations about Spotify’s audio quality, Young remarked, “Spotify, the #1 streamer of low res music in the world — where you get less quality than we made, will now be the 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,” Mr. Young wrote.
“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,” he added.
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