Neil Young has announced he will once again remove his music from a major digital platform, this time targeting Amazon, while urging fans to boycott large corporations and instead support local businesses.
In a statement published on his official Neil Young Archives website, the 79-year-old artist issued a blistering message condemning big tech companies and corporate influence in American life.
“FORGET AMAZON AND WHOLE FOODS
FORGET FACEBOOK
BUY LOCAL
BUY DIRECT
BEZOS SUPPORTS THIS GOVERNMENT
IT DOES NOT SUPPORT YOU OR ME
The time is here.
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. 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.”
Young’s post is a rallying cry for social and economic independence, urging his audience to reject big corporations in favour of community-based commerce. He accuses tech giants like Amazon, Facebook and Whole Foods of contributing to what he calls “the Corporate Control Age.”
The protest aligns with Young’s recently released political track Big Crime, which takes aim at Donald Trump and what Young views as the erosion of democracy in the United States. In his message, he makes a direct link between corporate dominance and the decline of public welfare, blaming corporations for undermining workers, healthcare and economic stability.
It remains uncertain whether his latest action will remove his catalogue from Amazon’s streaming service, its physical store, or both. His music currently draws millions of listeners online, making the potential withdrawal another major stand in his long-running fight against corporate power in the music industry.
Young has a well-documented history of confronting major companies over issues of ethics, misinformation and artistic integrity. In 2022, he famously removed his music from Spotify in protest against COVID-19 misinformation linked to one of its top podcasts. At the time, he said, “Spotify has become the home of life-threatening COVID misinformation.” The platform complied with his request, removing his catalogue despite millions of monthly listeners.
Two years later, Young restored his music to Spotify after changes to the platform’s exclusivity agreements with controversial content creators, but not before expressing frustration at what he described as “low-quality audio” and the continuing spread of “disinformation” across all major services. His return was conditional and pragmatic – he explained that leaving every major platform would limit his music’s accessibility to fans.
Now, with his focus turned to Amazon, Young has broadened his protest beyond a single issue, taking aim at what he perceives as the deep entanglement of government and corporate interests. He warns that large corporations have “sold out America” and urges people to “take America back together” by supporting independent businesses instead.
For over five decades, Neil Young has been one of the music world’s most outspoken figures. From Ohio, written in response to the 1970 Kent State shootings, to Rockin’ in the Free World, Southern Man and The Monsanto Years, Young has used his platform to challenge power structures and defend artistic and social freedom. His activism has spanned environmental causes, technology ethics, and musicians’ rights.
Later this month, Young will headline Harvest Moon – A Gathering in California, a benefit concert supporting children with severe medical needs. The event will also feature Beck and Lana Del Rey.
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