Neil Young Is Pulling All His Music From Online Streaming Services

Legendary musician Neil Young is pulling his music from Spotify and all other streaming services in a boycott over sound quality.

“All my music, my life’s work, is what I am preserving the way I want it to be.

“It’s already started. My music is being removed from all streaming services” said Young in a post on his Facebook page.

The 69-year old singer-songwriter believes that the audio quality offered by streaming services isn’t good enough to enable fans to hear his music the way it should be heard.

Not mincing his words, Young said: “Streaming sucks. Streaming is the worst audio in history.”

Bizarrely, his announcement claims that the sound quality offered by AM radio, analogue cassettes and archaic 8-tracks is better than streaming - a claim that many music experts would dispute.

He also fails to address streaming services that offer high-resolution audio, such as Jay-Z’s Tidal.

The full statement reads:

Young has long been a champion of high-resolution audio and was responsible for the Kickstarter-funded hi-res Pono music player which was made available to the public in January.

Despite a lengthy build-up, the player received tepid reviews with many reviewers unable to hear a substantial difference between the hi-res music and standard tracks.

Despite the boycott, Young made it clear that he would reconsider if audio quality on streaming services like Spotify was improved, saying: “Make streaming sound good and I will be back.”

There’s no word on exactly when Young’s music will disappear from online music platforms - his back catalogue was still available in Spotify following his announcement.

Young isn’t the first musician to do battle with online streaming services. Last year Taylor Swift pulled her music from Spotify due to declining album sales. She also told Apple that she would hold back her most recent album unless they agreed to pay artists during Apple Music’s three-month trial period. Apple finally agreed.

Bands such as Metallica and AC/DC held out for a long time before allowing their music to appear on streaming services, while the world is still waiting for The Beatles’ back catalogue to show up online.

(Image credit: Sky News)