Neil Young has announced plans to remove his music catalog from Amazon. In an effort to encourage his listeners to shop local, Young called out the corporation in a post published to his website on Oct. 8.
“Forget Amazon and Whole Foods. Forget Facebook,” Young said on the Neil Young Archives website. “Buy local. Buy direct. Bezos supports this government. It does not support you or me.”
Young, long one of the most outspoken figures in rock, has been a critic of President Donald Trump for years. Last month, Young penned a song called “Big Crime” that calls out “fascists” and includes the line, “There’s big crime in D.C. at the White House.” He also occasionally publishes commentary on politics, the entertainment industry and other global issues on the Neil Young Archives.
“The time is here, forget Amazon,” he continued. “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.”
Young previously pulled his from Spotify after he claimed the platform was enabling podcasts like Joe Rogan’s to spread misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines. Back in August, Young also announced that he was leaving Facebook over the company’s AI chatbot.
He ended his message on Wednesday writing: “[Amazon] needs 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.”
It remains unclear whether Young is removing his digital music library from Amazon Music or if he is also enforcing removal of products from Amazon.
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Representatives of Amazon Music and Neil Young did not immediately return Variety‘s requests for comment.
From Variety US