Neil Young returns to Spotify after two-year protest

At the time, he wrote: "I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them. Please act on this immediately today and keep me informed of the time schedule... I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform," he added. "They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young. Not both."

Joe Rogan later pledged to balance "controversial viewpoints" on his podcast after being criticised for spreading COVID misinformation by Young, as well as Joni Mitchell, and Stills, Crosby and Nash, who followed suit.

Neil Young backtracks protest & puts his music catalog back on Spotify after 2022 Joe Rogan Vaccine comments:

“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… pic.twitter.com/qxrycMxHM1

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) March 13, 2024

Taking to his Neil Young Archives website, he shared a statement announcing his return: “Spotify, the #1 streamer of low res music in the world — Spotify, where you get less quality than we made, will now be home of my music again.” He went on to explain that his decision to return was because “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," he continued, calling for Spotify to improve the quality of the content that they're putting out, similar to that of Qobuzz and Tidal. “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.”