back to article Neil Young slams Google, after you log in to read his rant with Google or Facebook

Musician Neil Young has spent years railing against the poor quality of digital audio. And now he's taken aim at Google, Facebook and Amazon for having "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 f*cking cent to the musicians." "Aren't they …

  1. b0llchit Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Old meme

    Do as I say, not as I do!

  2. Empire of the Pussycat

    "a requirement to sign up with Facebook or Google"

    bollocks is there

    as any fule can see, there's also the option to sign-up with an email address, it doesn't even verify the address before giving access, you can put in any old rubbish and you're in

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: "a requirement to sign up with Facebook or Google"

      I really hope the intention of the article was to argue that musician Neil Young is happy rail against Google and Facebook but lacks the courage of his convictions to ban their logins as he would lose views.

      Most probably he has nothing to do with the site's construction and it's a feature of the template used by whoever he paid to build it.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: "a requirement to sign up with Facebook or Google"

        "Most probably he has nothing to do with the site's construction and it's a feature of the template used by whoever he paid to build it."

        Maybe some day he should take a look at his site and see the irony for himself?

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not really 'rockin' in the free world is he.

  4. KjetilS

    Maybe he could take the fight with the record companies who choose to keep almost all of the income from streaming sites instead of passing it to the artist.

    1. Donn Bly

      The site isn't really his

      Why would he do that on the blog, as the site isn't really "his". If you look at the terms and conditions page you will find the site is "operated by Warner Bros. Records, a Warner Music Group Company and Shakey Pictures, Inc."

  5. rmason

    He is alowed

    He is allowed to be against things and not have the best grasp of tech and self promotion online/PR stuff.

    It's not like 'owd Neil sat there typing it out onto whatever platform they use.

    I'll have been emailed to someone who works for him with instructions regarding which platforms to put it out on.

    I don't think he'll have been heavily (at all) involved with the delivery of said content, the design of his website or "his" use of social media.

    1. Captain Hogwash
      Coat

      Re: ...not have the best grasp of tech...

      That's true. He said Rust never sleeps. Should have used std::thread.

      1. John Lilburne

        Re: ...not have the best grasp of tech...

        I don't think advising on getting a sexually transmitted disease is the correct thing to do.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: He is alowed

      "He is allowed to be against things and not have the best grasp of tech and self promotion online/PR stuff."

      No, no he is NOT. You cant rail against facebook and google and have an OAUTH sign in and data slurp. You cant rail against mega-corp while being hosted on a mega-corp website. He is rich enough not to be an idiot. He is rich enough not to be excused.

  6. Bob Vistakin
    Pint

    Musicians Lynyrd Skynyrd have spent years having a go at Neil Young

    I'm embarrased to say I only recently found out what one of my favourite tunes is all about, when I took the time to actually listen to the lyrics of Sweet Home Alabama.

    1. Gobhicks

      Re: Musicians Lynyrd Skynyrd have spent years having a go at Neil Young

      You need to do more research on the whole Young/Skynyrd thing...

      1. GX5000

        Re: Musicians Lynyrd Skynyrd have spent years having a go at Neil Young

        Southern Man Syndrome.....

        1. Tom Joad

          Re: Musicians Lynyrd Skynyrd have spent years having a go at Neil Young

          They've been dead for decades, fool. Not that anyone cares what a sucky southern rock band said. "OH! Neil said Alabama had racists!" That was real news, huh?

    2. Mike 125

      >> I'm embarrased

      You should be.

    3. jelabarre59

      Re: Musicians Lynyrd Skynyrd have spent years having a go at Neil Young

      Hey, at least Neil Young had been in a band with Rick James at one time.

    4. Tom Joad

      Re: Musicians Lynyrd Skynyrd have spent years having a go at Neil Young

      They're dead, man. Have been for decades. Southern bubblegum music defending the racist south. Bet it makes you proud!

  7. Aladdin Sane

    Anti-GMO

    Relies on GMO insulin to live.

    He's a prick.

    1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      Re: Anti-GMO

      Not fair. You cannot blame a medical treatment for being contrary to a person's views.

      I'm generally against GMOs as well (on the basis that I'm not convinced we really know the long-term consequences of what we're doing), but I am dead against dying. I will thus eat GMO food as happily as any other food (not that we have much of a choice these days anyway).

      1. David Nash Silver badge

        Re: Anti-GMO

        "I'm not convinced we really know the long-term consequences of what we're doing"

        That applies equally to most aspects of the modern world. Nothing special about GMOs in that regard. The fact is we need them to feed the world.

        1. codger

          Re: Anti-GMO "GMOs ...The fact is we need them to feed the world "

          It may possibly, barely be true that we need GMOs to feed the world and to drench formerly rich and diverse biomes with Glyphosate and consequently shovel billions to Monsanto forever for the privilege .

          Can ANYBODY quote a genuine non-paid-for-by-Monsanto scientific study by disinterested agricultural experts that supports this much-repeated propaganda assertion? Or have they all been silenced?

          1. David Nash Silver badge

            Re: Anti-GMO "GMOs ...The fact is we need them to feed the world "

            GMO studies...you could start here:

            https://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/the-gmo-controversy/

            https://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/questions-on-gmos/

            https://www.skepticink.com/smilodonsretreat/2012/10/24/a-survey-of-long-term-gm-food-studies/

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Anti-GMO

          "The fact is we need them to feed the world".

          Not if we had the bollocks to stop uncontrolled breeding we wouldn't.

          1. Aladdin Sane

            Re: Anti-GMO

            Surely that would involve removal of bollocks?

          2. Eltonga
            Devil

            Re: Anti-GMO

            Not if we had the bollocks to stop uncontrolled breeding we wouldn't.

            well, we always have that old reliable option of an all-out war.

      2. inmypjs Silver badge

        Re: Anti-GMO

        "know the long-term consequences"

        We have been genetically modifying plants and livestock for centuries.

        Maybe we should go back to zapping plants with radiation to produce random mutations and throwing them all at the wall to see what sticks because it is just giving nature a helping hand?

      3. katgod

        Re: Anti-GMO

        Pascal,

        We have all been eating hybridized food for hundreds of 100s of years and we all die in the end. If you think about it, if GMO food is a concern then so are all pharmaceuticals, alcohol, sugar in excess, water and any other thing you ingest. If you worry about the consequences of all these things then doesn't life get more difficult then it should? I am not saying you shouldn't pay attention to what you eat but worrying about GMO food is mostly a problem for people without real problems.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Old Man

    To be fair, old Neil may be utterly clueless in some ways, and may have been subsumed into the Machine without realizing it.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: to Neil Young

      Obligatory Neil Young parody.

      FF to the 22:15 mark for the song "Southern California Brings Me Down."

  10. Gobhicks

    Why do I keep f#@%in' up?

    Neil Young is by no means perfect. He knows this. But he has a giant soul.

    1. David Nash Silver badge
      WTF?

      Re: Why do I keep f#@%in' up?

      "He has a giant soul"

      What does that even mean?

      1. Captain Hogwash
        Coat

        Re: What does that even mean?

        I think it means he doesn't have little feat.

        1. GBE

          Re: What does that even mean?

          I think it means he doesn't have little feat.

          I don't recall that he was ever _in_ Little Feat, but I'd be surprised if he didn't have any. He's probably even covered a Little Feat song or two in his time...

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Why do I keep f#@%in' up?

        "What does that even mean?"

        Well, there are great souls, dead souls, shoe soles and a lot of "R" soles. Take your pick, as Stalin said to the guy he was sending to Mexico.

      3. Gobhicks

        Re: Why do I keep f#@%in' up?

        if you need to ask then I fear for your soul

  11. PhilipN Silver badge

    What a relief

    Musicians being ripped off by tech companies instead of record companies, agents, managers, promoters etc etc**

    Now I can sleep more easily.

    **Bandmates, fellow musicians, TV companies, restaurants, shopping malls, discos, ...oh....the Russians! Don't forget to blame the Russians!

    1. Aladdin Sane

      Re: What a relief

      And the bloody awful Warsaw Concerto.

    2. Stu Mac

      Re: What a relief

      If they get out of bed and play live to paying audiences they will still get paid. Hoorah.

    3. Tom Joad

      Re: What a relief

      Encouraging to know that you think it is alright for musicians to be ripped off by everybody.

      I'm so glad you can sleep easily, but I'm still trying to figure out:

      How do you sleep at night?

      Oh, yeah. You're a Trumpee. One of those so-called conservatives who used to hate Russia, until they helped your new God be elected, and who are now your good buddies.

      You guys will sleep through anything, even the extinction of the race.

  12. inmypjs Silver badge

    "next generation of artists will come from. How will they survive?"

    Dunno Neil.

    Do you think you could have got by with a bit less than your $65 million?

    Most people get paid once to do a day's work, they don't expect to get paid for that day's work over and over for 70 fsking years.

    1. Indolent Wretch

      Re: "next generation of artists will come from. How will they survive?"

      I'm sure he has spoken out endlessly about how the money from royalties should be split fairly to the whole band and not have the bulk given to the songwriter. I'm sure he has also waxed lyrically about how session musicians responsible in the background for so many hits deserve royalties and has personally paid royalties out of his own pocket to any on his music. While he sites in his massive mansion crying over the number of zeros on his latest royalty cheque.

      1. JSIM

        Re: "next generation of artists will come from. How will they survive?"

        "While he sites in his massive mansion crying over the number of zeros on his latest royalty cheque."

        Nice smear job.

        1. Stu Mac

          Re: "next generation of artists will come from. How will they survive?"

          If the hat fits....

          https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qBxtHyLbYh0/V0T8SiAyzfI/AAAAAAAAL-0/j2OCs06ZFl0SLcyRkaNcRNosG_HotYd6ACLcB/s1600/Donald-Trump-Neil-Young-compressed.png

    2. JSIM

      Re: "next generation of artists will come from. How will they survive?"

      "Most people get paid once to do a day's work, they don't expect to get paid for that day's work over and over for 70 fsking years."

      You make it sound like it's a terrible thing and Neil's fault that he created music that people still love and that he and others can still sell and make money from 50 years (not 70) later. Why should anyone else benefit from the fruits of his labour more than he himself? You are way off-base. You are quite correct though when you say that you don't know.

      1. inmypjs Silver badge

        Re: "next generation of artists will come from. How will they survive?"

        "Why should anyone else benefit from the fruits of his labour more than he himself? "

        Why shouldn't everyone benefit from the fruits of his labour for free and fuck him?

        Seems like a greater good to me, however, when you can answer that question dumb ass you will understand the reason for copyright and how badly it is being abused.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: "next generation of artists will come from. How will they survive?"

          > Why shouldn't everyone benefit from the fruits of his labour for free and fuck him?

          Why should anyone labour for free? Dumb-ass commie.

          > If the hat fits....

          Old Hipsters For Trump?

      2. katgod

        Re: "next generation of artists will come from. How will they survive?"

        JSIM,

        It looks like copy write extends for over 100 years now, this has not always been the case though and for some reason patents are only good for 20 years. I agree that this is not Neil Youngs fault but it does beg the question whether a song should be copy written for 100 years seeing it wasn't always so. I suspect this is another law that was put in place by someone in the industry as opposed to a popular consensus.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Mischaracterization

    "Young's beef appears to be that Google indexes pirate sites and lists them in its search results, all while coining it from ads."

    Did you even read his rant? He's talking about YOUTUBE, all 100% legal through the DMCA intermediary loophole, but I know piracy when I see it.

    Honest pirates still face draconian punishment, yet somehow it's become a legitimate business model in Silicon Valley? DRAIN THE SWAMP!

    1. andifox@rogers.com

      Re: Mischaracterization

      |"...YOUTUBE, all 100% legal through the DMCA intermediary loophole, but I know piracy when I see it."

      Explain,please?

      1. Tom Joad

        Re: Mischaracterization

        What part of that did you not understand, Digital Millennium Copyright Act, intermediary, loophole? Google owns Youtube, which plays people's music without paying royalties. Bands lose a fortune, because they'll come out with a new record, and people will just download it from Youtube instead of buying it. Then they'll have to play live for months just to pay back the studio recording time.

  14. Gene Cash Silver badge

    Blocking tracking

    If you block google-analytics.com, you get nothing. No login or anything.

    1. andifox@rogers.com

      Re: Blocking tracking

      YES. This one data vampire alone has almost every site CAPTCHA'd. Behind Google are a flock of other ravening bloodsuckers. Tonight, I found that one of my (admittedly crappy) ISPNs allowed access w/out even a user name (-don't bother, I know what to check). To contact the vendor about the prob one has to use a CAPTCHA (Google), after providing particulars re the account on a site that has 38 TRACKERS. Christmas eve, I was in the central subway station in my city. Every pillar, every poster on every wall was covered w/a Google poster. "They have landed" was all I could think, in dull panic.

      When are people going to snap out of it and start boycotting these monster lampreys? What "free" or cheap entertainment or convenience they throw us, it's only to vacuum up our most valuable assets - our PI- on the cheap. You guys should support NY & anyone else w/reach for standing up & saying anything against one of these ghouls. How many celebs, who could make an instant impact by speaking out, have said word one about any of this? Instead, you're picking the skin off him 'cos he's old, or he's not a tech expert, or he makes more money than you.

  15. Spacedman
    Angel

    Neil Young spends years railing against the quality of internet downloads and then records an album on a refurbished 1947 vinyl-cutting booth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Letter_Home - but that's the genius of the man....

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Still better than standard 128k MP3 and whatever youtube's using. Sonic equivalent of low-res JPEG.

      It's true, however, that you're unlikely to notice the difference in any Neil Young song I've ever heard.

    2. andifox@rogers.com

      Vinyl forever.

  16. haggy

    Nothing on the site requires the use of Facebook or Google, nor is anybody required to use them to log in. Telling people that he's not responsible for information that they give to Google is warning people, not promoting Google. It's doing the opposite of what you are saying.

    Even if people do use Google, that doesn't mean he has to agree with their policies on music. I don't agree with George Washington on slavery, but that doesn't mean that I'm against democracy because of it. Stop conflating issues.

  17. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

    Irony

    I'd like to see him take an ABX test between whatever snake oil audio format he's selling this year and whatever the new hotness in MPEG audio compression is, both encoded from the same master. To give him a fighting chance, we can even use 128 kb/s for the MPEG audio.

    With his elderly musician's ears, I'm betting he couldn't tell the difference.

    1. andifox@rogers.com

      Re: Irony

      People sure get nasty here.Try to calm down: it's just a conversation.

  18. ITnoob

    Not sure Neil really understands the Nyquist - Shannon sampling theorem.

  19. noodle heimer

    Take it from a performer

    Wbich, Neal, you once were:

    “Go back to the pre-recorded era. If you wanted to hear Caruso, you went to go see Caruso and it’s coming back to that. The t-shirt and the album are peripherals of the actual performance. Everything revolves around the gig,”

    That's Richard Thompson. Once upon a time, Neal, you were a guitar god. And you toured, and people went to see you, and got something honest out of the transaction.

    Now you expect to live off your back catalog and sling audiophool hokum like the Pono.

    Shut up and play your goddamn guitar. If you're good and you're determined you can make a living at it. Superstardom is an accident of the mid 20th century, not a star placed in the Firmament by Jehovah around which the universe must revolve.

    Me, I'm a listener - but I buy concert tickets every year.

  20. Captain Boing

    What a coincidence!

    I, too, have spent years railing against the poor quality of Musician Neil Young's audio

  21. IGnatius T Foobar
    Facepalm

    Neil Young is now Neil Old

    Neil Young is now Neil Old. Dinosaurs need to get with the new model or be left behind.

  22. boatsman

    not quite fair. you can just as well register with an email addres

    so next time, think before you submit...

  23. This post has been deleted by its author

  24. Qwertius

    Neil Young's always been a supporter of the Socialist Democrats.

    That's the party that want's everyone to pay more taxes for those who don't.

    Google, Amazon, Apple, Twitter & Facebook are all Pro - Democrat.

    So - being Democrat supporters - they prefer to steal rather than pay.

  25. frankieh

    He clearly doesn't understand much about technology. In addition to the login options he appears to think that google spiders sites with a bunch of trained monkeys who cackle gleefully when they find a piracy site they can profit from.

    If only those pesky piracy sites all agreed to a standard whereby they all changed their title tags to "piracy site here" it would make them much easier to filter out.

    In truth they generally don't host any files on the same servers as the site itself and the file names are not usually indicative either.. it would be hard to reliably catch any of them with an algorithm especially without also blocking lyrics and fan sites too.

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