NEED TO KNOW
- On Wednesday, Oct. 8, Neil Young, 79, announced that he will be pulling his music from Amazon
- The musician called for fans to boycott the company
- “FORGET AMAZON AND WHOLE FOODS. FORGET FACEBOOK. BUY LOCAL. BUY DIRECT. BEZOS SUPPORTS THIS GOVERNMENT. IT DOES NOT SUPPORT YOU OR ME,” his eponymous archives website read
Neil Young is taking a stand against corporate America — and Amazon.
On Wednesday, Oct. 8, Young, 79, announced on the Neil Young Archives website that he will be pulling his music from Amazon and called for fans to boycott the e-commerce company.
“FORGET AMAZON AND WHOLE FOODS. FORGET FACEBOOK,” the website read. “BUY LOCAL. BUY DIRECT. BEZOS SUPPORTS THIS GOVERNMENT. IT DOES NOT SUPPORT YOU OR ME.”
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“The time is here,” the “Heart of Gold” singer continued. “FORGET AMAZON. Soon my music will not be there. It is easy to buy local. Support your community. Go to the local store. Don’t go back to the big corporations who have sold out America. We all have to give up something to save America from the Corporate Control Age it is entering.”
He ended his message by writing: “They need you to buy from them. Don’t. They shut down our government your income your safety your family’s health security. Take America Back together, stop buying from the big corporations support local business. Do the right thing. Show who you are.”
It is unclear whether Young is removing his digital music library from Amazon Music or if he is also taking his physical products off Amazon. PEOPLE has reached out to Amazon and Young’s representatives for comment.
Young’s announcement comes two months after he ended all Facebook and Instagram promotions over Meta’s “use of chatbots with children.” This came after Reuters published an investigative report on Meta’s AI rules that same month.
This isn’t the first time that Young has decided to pull his music from a streaming platform.
In January 2022, Young protested Joe Rogan and The Joe Rogan Experience (which was exclusively available on Spotify for three years) for its COVID-19 “disinformation” by removing his music from Spotify.
“I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform. They can have [Joe] Rogan or Young. Not both,” Young wrote in an open letter that appeared to later be deleted, according to Rolling Stone and Variety.
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In March 2024, Young announced that he was putting his music catalog back on Spotify, despite being frustrated with their audio quality, per Stereogum.
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