Neil Young To Return To Spotify After Two-Year Boycott

Neil Young will put his music back on Spotify after a two-year boycott. Young announced his return to “low-res Spotify” on his website.

In January 2022, the streaming giant pulled Young’s music after he criticised the platform. He accused it of allowing the spread of COVID misinformation by hosting Joe Rogan's podcast and issued an ultimatum: “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”

A month later, he encouraged artists and Spotify staff to sever ties with the streaming service, which at the time exclusively hosted the podcast The Joe Rogan Experience.

Now, Joe Rogan's exclusivity at Spotify is no longer the case, with the podcaster’s episodes now streaming on Apple Music and Amazon, which triggered Young’s return to Spotify.

“Spotify, the #1 streaming of low res music in the world – Spotify where you get less quality than we made, will now be home of my music again,” Young wrote in a statement on his website this week (12 March).

Explaining his choice to return to Spotify, Young continued, “My decision comes as music services Apple and Amazon have started serving the same disinformation podcast features I opposed at Spotify.

“I cannot just leave Apple and Amazon, like I did with 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.”

Writing that he hopes Spotify’s millions of subscribers enjoy his songs (“They will now all be there for you except the full sound we created,” he quipped), Young concluded his statement: “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!”

Young’s catalogue still hasn’t returned to Spotify at the time of writing. However, the list of his popular songs is there, with his albums likely to land soon.

Last month, Neil Young and Crazy Horse announced the release of their new album, FU##IN UP, a nine-track LP that finds the artists reimagining songs from their 1990 album Ragged Glory. The album will be released on Friday, 26 April – after a Record Store Day special release.