Neil Young Removes the Majority of His Albums From Streaming Services
Earlier this month, Neil Young vowed to remove his music from streaming services, and now, it appears he has followed through with his promise.
As Rolling Stone reports, the majority of Young’s albums have been pulled from Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal and the like. The only albums that remain are his ‘80s-era efforts Trans, Everybody’s Rockin’, Old Ways, Landing on Water, Life and his Lucky Thirteen compilation, all of which were released during Young’s time with Geffen Records. Young and Geffen were embroiled in a legal battle over the albums, which the label called “musically uncharacteristic” of the singer’s past work and sued him for upwards of $3 million. They eventually settled the suit out of court and Young signed with Warner’s Reprise Records in 1989.
When Young announced he would remove his music from streaming services, the singer made it clear that, unlike many artists who have abstained from Spotify and platforms of that ilk, his decision was not made based on the platform’s inequitable royalties. Instead, for Young, it has everything to do with their subpar sound quality, which has been the singer's soapbox appeal for quite some time now.
“Streaming has ended for me,” Young wrote. “It’s about sound quality. I don’t need my music to be devalued by the worst quality in the history of broadcasting or any other form of distribution.”