Neil Young says he will return to Spotify after 2-year boycott over Joe Rogan

Neil Young performs in 2023. (Michelle Pemberton/The Indianapolis Star via AP)

TORONTO — Neil Young is coming back to Spotify.

Two years after the "Heart of Gold" musician launched a boycott of the streaming music service over vaccine misinformation on Joe Rogan's podcast, Young says he intends to end his protest and return to the platform.

However, he says it is not a reversal of his original stance.

Without naming Rogan's podcast, Young says on his website that the "same disinformation podcast features" once exclusive to Spotify are now available on various streaming platforms, including those owned by Apple and Amazon.

"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," he wrote in a message posted Tuesday.

In January 2022, Young pulled his catalogue from Spotify after giving the company an ultimatum over concerns Rogan was spreading COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on his show. Only a few songs of his remained on the service, all tied to either film soundtracks, live recordings or other musicians' albums.

Shortly after, Joni Mitchell joined the boycott and removed most of her music from Spotify, where it remains unavailable today. Representatives for Mitchell did not immediately return requests for comment.

Both musicians contracted polio as children before a vaccine was developed in the early 1950s.

Young says he hopes that with the return of his music, Spotify will improve the sound quality of its platform to support high-resolution audio. As of Wednesday morning, Young's deep catalogue of albums had yet to reappear on the service.

Quebec musician Gilles Vigneault had also joined Young and Mitchell in their boycott against COVID-19 misinformation. A publicist for the singer did not immediately respond to a question of whether he intended to return to Spotify.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 13, 2024.