In the second half of the set, he came out with his band and announced that the band were going to play some songs “you've heard before”. This is a man who once tested the patience of fans at a concert by playing acoustic versions of new songs with which they were unfamiliar. Young reportedly received a nine-figure sum for the sale of half his catalogue to Hipgnosis – in other words at least US$100mln – so it is likely Young does not care much.

Given Spotify reportedly paid US$100mln in 2020 to secure the rights to The Joe Rogan Experience – it is the platform’s most popular podcast – there was little chance of Spotify choosing Young over Rogan. Young accused the Spotify platform of “spreading fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them” and issued an ultimatum: “They can have Rogan or Young.

Young, a prolific solo artist with a recording career stretching back to 1968 who was also a member of the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, was recently vexed by claims made about Covid-19 vaccines on a podcast hosted by Joe Rogan on Spotify. Hipgnosis, which buys up the rights to the back catalogues of musicians, songwriters and producers, acquired 50% of the worldwide copyright and income from Neil Young’s back catalogue in January of last year. If he did realise, he probably would not give a toss because that’s the sort of person he is by all accounts.īut I am playing you the fade-out before hitting you with the intro so let’s backtrack. When the contrary ancient hippie singer/songwriter Neil Young took a principled stand against music streaming site Spotify, he probably did not realise he was stirring up trouble for Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited (LSE:SONG).

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