A high-profile boycott of Spotify will end soon. Neil Young, who made a noisy exit from the streaming service a little over two years ago, will go back.
He exited to protest The Joe Rogan Experience, which contained Covid content widely deemed to be misinformation. In our coverage (HERE), we summarized the exit drama this way: “Neil Young hates Joe Rogan and blames Spotify. Young delivered an ultimatum: Ditch Rogan or lose me. Young is gone. It was quick, too.”
Now, in the wake of Rogan’s changed arrangement with Spotify, Young will return his music to the world’s preeminent streaming music service. “My decision comes as music services Apple and Amazon have started serving the same disinformation podcast features I had opposed at SPOTIFY.” (The all-caps are his.) By “disinformation campaign,” Young means Rogan’s podcast, which has recently exited an exclusive-to-Spotify period and will distribute through Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music.
Young wishes he could continue the protest, don’t get him wrong. “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.”
Seeming unwilling to be on Spotify without criticism, Young has turned his attention to bit rates. He proffers “sincere hopes that Spotify sound quality will improve and people will be able to hear and feel all the music as we made it.” His announcement is titled “My Return To Low Res Spotify.” Read it HERE.
