Neil Young pulls music from streaming services, says their quality is terrible

If Taylor Swift has the power to make corporate giants change their way with an open letter online, why not folk rocker Neil Young?

The creator of the high-res PonoPlayer has sent a message to fans on his Facebook page announcing that "Streaming has ended for me. I hope this is ok for my fans", and that he will be removing his catalogue from streaming services immediately.

Young points out that his reasons for doing so are less about the money, and more about the quality of the streams, claiming, "I don't need my music to be devalued by the worst quality in the history of broadcasting or any other form of distribution."

Pono'd

As the creator of the Pono Player, and the FLAC music Ponomusic store, Young's war on MP3s has been ongoing for a few years now, so it's hardly a surprise that he would take this stand against the lower quality of services like Apple Music.

Young points out that he's not against the idea of his music appearing on streaming services at all, should they bring the level of quality he is after to his audience: "For me, It's about making and distributing music people can really hear and feel. I stand for that.

"When the quality is back, I'll give it another look. Never say never."

Currently, Young's music can still be found on Spotify and Apple Music at least, and it will be interesting to see if his tune changes in regards to Tidal's high quality option as well.

• Digital music quality is getting better all the time, but it can be a bit confusing