In early 2022, Neil Young removed his music from Spotify, in protest of the streaming service being the exclusive home of The Joe Rogan Experience. Recently, though, the exclusivity came to an end and Rogan’s often-controversial podcast is now available on other platforms. So, last week, Young revealed he had decided to put his music on Spotify again.
Joni Mitchell, who had previously also de-Spotify’d her catalog in solidarity with Young, has put her music back on the platform as well. Mitchell has yet to publicly comment on the decision, but indeed, her classic releases can currently be streamed on Spotify once again.
Young explained his return, “My decision comes as music services Apple and Amazon have started serving the same disinformation podcast features I had opposed at SPOTIFY. 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.”
Neil Young is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.