Neil Young announces return to Spotify; reveals reason
Canadian-American singer-songwriter Neil Young has revealed that his music will be back on Spotify after a two-year absence. To recall, in January 2022, Young asked Spotify to remove his songs due to vaccine misinformation on Spotify's The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. Other musicians, like Joni Mitchell, Arie and Young's Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young bandmates David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash, also took their music off the platform, per Billboard. Reportedly, only Mitchell's music hasn't yet been restored.
Reasoning behind Young's decision
On his Neil Young Archives website, the iconic artist shared that his music's return to Spotify was prompted by the end of Rogan's exclusive deal with the platform. Young wrote, "My decision comes as music services Apple and Amazon have started serving the same disinformation podcast features I had opposed at Spotify." He also expressed hope for better sound quality on Spotify and mentioned Qobuz and Tidal as "High res" streaming options where his music is available.
Young's advocacy for high-resolution audio
A long-time supporter of high-resolution audio, Young even launched his own high-res audio download platform, Pono, in 2015, which closed in 2017. Young encouraged Spotify to adopt Hi-Res audio and "serve all the music to everyone." He wrote, "Spotify, you can do it! Really be #1 in all ways. You have the music and listeners!!!! Start with a limited Hi res tier and build from there!" Although Spotify announced a HiFi tier in 2021, it has not been released yet.
