MUMBAI: On Wednesday, 15 July, veteran rock musician Neil Young announced through Facebook posts that he is pulling his music off streaming services, citing issues with the medium's sound quality as the primary reason. Young also wrote that he had issues with how streaming services compensate artists.

“It is about sound quality. I do not need my music to be devalued by the worst quality in the history of broadcasting or any other form of distribution. I do not feel right allowing this to be sold to my fans. It is bad for my music,” the 69-year old Canadian singer wrote on his Facebook page. “For me, it is about making and distributing music people can really hear and feel. I stand for that. When the quality is back, I will give it another look,” he further added.

Streaming services such as Spotify, allows its premium subscribers to stream at a quality of bitrate 320 kbps, which is a lower audio quality as compared to Jay-Z’s Tidal, which allows its HiFi users to stream music at 1411 kbps, also known as Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) audio quality.

Talking about music streaming, the ‘Down by the River’ singer wrote, “Streaming is the worst audio in history. Streaming has ended for me. I hope this is ok for my fans.” He further wrote that it was not because of the money, even though, Young writes, his share has been dramatically reduced by bad deals made without his consent. “My music is being removed from all streaming services. It is not good enough to sell or rent. All my music, my life's work, is what I am preserving the way I want it to be. Make streaming sound good and I will be back,” Young added.

The ‘Angry World’ hitmaker also wrote that he was there during analogue cassettes, eight track tapes and AM radio. “I was there. AM radio kicked streaming's a**. Analog Cassettes and 8 tracks also kicked streaming's a**, and absolutely rocked compared to streaming. Streaming sucks. Copy my songs if you want to. That is free. Your choice. If you want it, you got it. It is here to stay. Your choice,” wrote Young on Facebook.