Neil Young is not done criticizing Spotify and has drafted an open letter urging employees to flee from the company “before it eats up your soul.” Young also had strong words for Chase, Citi, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo.
The message posted by Young on his official Neil Young Archives page reads in full:
I SAY
In our communication age, misinformation is the problem. Ditch the misinformers. Find a good clean place to support with your monthly checks. You have the real power. Use it.
To the baby boomers, I say 70 percent of the country’s financial assets are in your hands compared with just about 5 percent for millennials. You and I need to lead.
In our age of Climate Chaos, I say ditch the companies contributing to the mass fossil fuel destruction of Earth.
For their continued funding of the fossil fuel damage even as the global temperature keeps climbing, I say take your money from the accounts of these American banks today:
Chase
Citi
Bank of America
Wells Fargo
Join me as I move my money away from the damage causers or you will unintentionally be one of them. You have the power to change the world. We can do it together. Your grandchildren will thank you in history.
To the musicians and creators in the world, I say this:
You must be able to find a better place than SPOTIFY to be the home of your art.
To the workers at SPOTIFY, I say Daniel Ek is your big problem – not Joe Rogan. Ek pulls the strings. Get out of that place before it eats up your soul. The only goals stated by EK are about numbers – not art, not creativity.
Notice that EK never mentions the Medical Professionals who started this conversation. Look, one last time – at the statements EK has made. Then be free and take the good path.
Neil Young says that the feels that through his songs he's completely free to voice his opinions and observations regarding the state of the world: “I find the things I'm thinking of and singing of, they're the things that matter to me. Not that in the past it wasn't like that; now, that I've gotten older, the things that matter to me are more focused. Things where I feel I can use my power and my skills as an artist, and as a crafter of records, or whatever. That I could say things and people might hear them that they normally wouldn't hear.”