Neil Young Just Stood Up To One Of Music’s Biggest Threats – You Won’t Help But Love Him

You Tell ‘Em, Neil!

Whether you love him or hate him, you can’t deny that legendary rocker Neil Young has left a lasting mark on music history with his timeless music and his outspokenness. Not everything he says jives well with others, particularly when it comes to politics, but after all, if you know Neil at all then you’ll know that his music has always been his platform for speaking his thoughts. But this time he has taken a shot at a different entity…

In a recent blog post on his website, Neil Young had harsh words for streaming services such as Spotify, Amazon, etc. Here is what he had to say…

“Young artists today — great authors, songwriters and musicians at the beginning of their creative output — are challenged to make ends meet in the digital world, a world where the artist is paid last, if at all, by the Tech Giants. Broken Arrow is soulful. Real. Not trying to be anything it wasn’t. I was beginning to see that hits were overrated and that hit-makers were falling like flies.”

“There’s a comet in the sky tonight / Makes me feel like I’m alright / I’m movin’ pretty fast / For my size” – noting they were “kind of how I felt at the time.” “Today, in the age of FaceBook, Google, and Amazon, it’s hard to tell how a new and growing musical artist could make it in the way we did. The Tech Giants have figured out a way to use all the great music of everyone from all time, without reporting an artist’s number of plays or paying a fucking cent to the musicians. Aren’t they great companies! It makes you wonder where the next generation of artists will come from. How will they survive?”

“‘Don’t Be Evil.’ That was Google’s corporate motto as they directed users to pirate sites to get artists’ creations and not pay. Amazing tech breakthrough! Meanwhile, they reap the bucks from ads people read while listening to music made by the artists. Google just changed their motto to ‘Do the Right Thing,’ but haven’t changed anything else as they continue to rip off the artist community, building their wealth on music’s back and paying nothing to the artists.”

Whether you love him or not, there’s no denying that Neil is standing up for what’s right, here. But what’re your thoughts? Do you agree? Do you disagree? Let us know in the comment section below!