More Neil Young

Bob,

Love Neil Young, but his rants feel on my deaf ears. Great mailbag, but a lot of folks are missing your real points.

I'm not just annoyed--but insulted--when legacy artists who made their money on lots of formats (vinyls, tape, cassette, CDs, downloads) over decades now are arguing about the idea of streaming's "quality." At least Taylor Swift is standing up for the songwriters lost in the shuffle.

There is nobility to the independent folks who refuse to sign up their music for streaming companies they don't trust (Steve Lawson, Zoe Keating), but did any of them read Seth Godin's blog this week: The Tech Ratchet? 

My favorite quotes: 
"Any useful technology that's successfully adopted by a culture won't be abandoned. Ever. After air conditioning is installed, it's never uninstalled."
"Society doesn't go backwards". 
This insider baseball stuff is confusing the public who can't figure out they can store songs on their phones without using bandwidth, or that Pandora is not the same service as Spotify or Apple Music. 

Where's the media on this? Writing click-bait. 

This month, Wired's senior staff writer wrote a stupid article about how his friends couldn't stream music during the fireworks: Wired: Streaming Music's Offline Problem). 

How is it an offline problem that you didn't plan ahead? Does this even warrant an article, by a tech publication no less? Read the comments, and most people didn't read the paragraph about how to store songs...

However, this isn't a great era for the middle-class artists. (This isn't a great era for the middle class in America, either. Try walking in the shoes of public school teachers, musicians. Even Michigan is a right-to-work state.)

Middle class artists need to recognize that:

1. the action of convincing one sale with one person is different than the relationship of a person listening to something multiple times; 

2. Spotify isn't really paying per stream, nor can I really figure out the actual way it works.

Plus, I'm going to scream if another hipster using the free AD-based tier of Spotify tells me, "I listen to my favorite groups a thousand times, so they are making the same at $0.005 a stream!" Ad accounts don't pay the same, folks! And your memories deceive you. I bet you really listened to your new favorite artist about 25-50 times, not a 1000.

I don't know what the answer is for the middle class artists. 

I think it starts with the truth, that the long tail we (me included) believed five to 10 years ago were just that, myths. 

I also think it starts with the truth that songwriters are screwed in a streaming economy. 

And that touring one's ass off isn't a great lifestyle. (Guardian's article about depression & touring.)

It's a misconstrued reality on both ends of the spectrum, Bob. 

Mike Vial

P.S. Joe Pinder wrote, "I can rent Netfix for £6.99, but Spotify is £9.99. What is the rationale for this? If streaming works at £6.99 for visual media it should work for music at LESS."

He needs to consider size of catalogue and other features offered. 

Netflix has a limited streaming catalogue, ever changing at the will of short contracts. You can watch Good Will Hunting this month, but it's not going to be available to stream in September.

Sure, an artist who own's their catalogue can take it off a stream platform, but really the only affect on catalogue that would make consumers leave is if the labels decided to remove large amounts of albums at once.

Seems worth $10 to me. In the 90s, I bet we would have paid twice this amount (and ignoring inflation), but Youtube and Napster have decreased our idea of music's worth. 

Mike Vial 

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From: MusicAlly

"Deezer suggests Neil Young is more popular with 'Elite' streamers": http://musically.com/2015/07/16/deezer-neil-young-elite-streamers/

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Bob.
Neil put his money behind his real belief that people benefit from much better sound. Most others write about concepts and numbers while others just listen to music they like on gear that pleases them.

Elliot Mazer

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i find the Neil Young discussion fascinating. I mastered Time Fades Away, On The Beach, Zuma, Tonight's The Night (my favorite), American Stars And Bars-all versions, Decade, a failed attempt at Comes A Time, a clean up and remaster of After The Gold Rush, and some edit and remix work during the crazy dance music blowup in the early 80s.
I've heard as much Neil Young as anybody, I think. And I love his music, unlike the many of the denizens of my union filled former studio.
And nobody cares today. It''s sad to me but it's the truth. If Neil played only his new album at this shows nobody would come. We want to hear the old stuff because it still thrills us. The new stuff doesn't.
And as for the digital kerfuffle, from my point of view Neil has ALWAYS chosen performance over technical considerations. I'm just going to leave it at that.

Phil Brown

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Gad; I may not be a great U2 fan — but this is bullshit whining. 

1. yes, they can ("just go out there and play…"). Period.
2. I'll guarantee that there are a host more "AMERICAN UNION GUYS" on a U2 tour than this guy can count.

Hugo Burnham

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The worst part about this decade is that it's the 50th anniversary of everything, and Boomers INSIST that everyone from that era gets a pass on everything, forever, and is always relevant. Before any ad hominem "you weren't there, maaaaaan" arguments come my way, keep in mind i drive a 1968 Mustang and have been putting on a party of 1960s music for a decade. That said, instead of listening to CISL 650 AM with Red Robinson on my tuner, i listen to it on their digital streaming app or online because it's clearer. 

Trevor Risk
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No reason to treat Neil any differently, up or down, than Zimmie....his last few albums have been OK musically, but seeing him with his faux "The Band Band" last October was a study in mumbling one octave lower than usual. Even Tom Waits slings out an intelligible lyric, here and there!?!

But.......HEY, it's DYLAN, right?

"He's a f****king Genius!!"

Only at bamboozlement.

We still love 'em both, though, right?

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz~jk

John P. Katsantonis

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As of 5 min ago Neil is still available on Spotify, YouTube and Tidal.

PR stunt?

Marcus T.

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Three or four months ago, I was in San Francisco working with Linda Ronstadt on the PowerPoint presentation we use for her public speaking engagements. I had my Macbook Pro set up on her dining room table with a UAD Apollo Twin Duo interface feeding a pair of her high-end Genelecs. After we finished fine-tuning the presentation, I told her I had some new downloads from HDTracks.com - 24/96 audio files. I cued up four songs: "Blue" by Joni Mitchell, "You Can Call Me Al," from Paul Simon's Graceland album, "God Only Knows" from Pet Sounds, and finally, "All Blues" by the Miles Davis Sextet from the Kind of Blue album. All those files were transferred from analog masters. While the music played, the four people in the room didn't say a word - we were all completely transfixed. After it was over, one of Linda's friends remarked that it was like hearing music for the first time. Case rested.

I don't know how my old ears would do on a double-blind test, but I know this. Next to the sound quality of that setup, Spotify, Pandora, MP3 in general, and Sirius XM, all sound like a Dixie cup and a string.

Best,
John Boylan

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Is Galen Hudson joking, or is he deaf? Could be deaf. Listening to Greendale will do that to you.

Greg Malecki

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Bill Goldsmith is full of his beloved BS. There IS audible quality loss between 320kbs mp3s and a CD.

All you need to do is avoid 'modern' pop music, and instead use classical piano, or bottom-heavy hip hop music and push the level past 6 (using cans, buds, speakers, monitors... anything!) and anyone will hear the difference.

This was tested in a bus full of French tourists a few years ago: the tour guide plugged his iPod (classic) in the luxury bus' Aux input to play music while driving through some scenic area, and the bass was 'fluffy' to use a kinder word than farty (couldn't resist). When the tour guide plugged in my iPod (classic, same model), playing the same album ripped in Apple Lossless, the bass was as tight as in our respective cars, the mid range didn't distort at higher volume, and the highs weren't shrill.

With solo piano (Keith Jarrett or Horowitz), the room ambience came out cleanly, and warmly on Apple Lossless. With mp3, even 320kbs mp3, you wouldn't have known there was a room to begin with.

It pisses me off to no end to hear, or see, people proclaim there is "no difference" between CDs and mp3s, and hide behind the fact that they work in "radio." I've worked in Radio - most people there couldn't pick the United States on a map of the world, let alone make basic auditory distinction.

Seriously.

Balisani

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Bill Goldsmith is 100% wrong.
I've taken those double blinds and passed.
I was sent files that were 96/24 and then they were downconverter to 16/44.1 and then back up so you couldn't identify it by metadata.
It wasn't difficult to hear which was which on a good system.
Saying 192/24 is B.S. is itself bullshit
I'm so sick and tired of people peddling WORSE as better or as indistinguishable.
If he thinks 320 Ogg files are indistinguishable from CDs, then I say ENJOY.
Maybe he also thinks cheap wine tastes the same as Petrus.

Michael Fremer

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Bob, this reply below, it made me pause while doing the ole Lefsetz email scan.

This guy says, "You need to bask in the glow of what's popular and trending. And you need to mock what's not. It makes you feel important.". All the while HE is mocking "popular and trending" by calling it "boring". HE mocks Spotify because it's "popular shit sound". HE mocks you because you are "popular AND trendy", but will "fall out of style". Guy could be accused of calling the kettle black, no?

Obviously he feels important… but how could he not see the irony in his own email before hitting send? The rationale didn't jive with me… a Google search later and all questions were answered.. he is an "Audiophile". Once you pay $1000 to $3500 for a digital audio cable "rational" gets removed from your vocabulary.

Aaron Johnson

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The Analogue man is spot on (that's Michael Fremer for those
non-audiophiles).....glad I happened to open your email for a change.

Hank Arnold

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AM in mono - Streaming in stereo?

Is Neil telling us his music was recorded in Mono? if not, then how is AM better?

PS. My favorite part of 8-tracks is the changing of tracks in the middle of a song...

Dave Parsons

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Didn't read Neil piece yet. But given the entertaining feedback I'd say u did ur job like a true artist should- evoke emotion!!

Man some people's ignorance toward streaming... "Who wants to listen to music on their phone" laughable!!!

Ps- I find it hilarious (and sad) that people replied saying they pay for Spotify yet still buy the cd... The old paradigm is drilled into them... And Spotify has room to market/PR 'what' their service does for people... And I commend the Boomers for embracing the 'new' :-)

Without reading the article, I say Well done Bob!

Mike Pappas

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Bob, what pisses me off is that I can't enjoy Neil's music on Spotify. I love Neil and I use and like Spotify and he's not there. WTF. 

Dave Herlihy

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I have been saying Neil is just wrong and probably we will blame it on drugs. His PONO was a total farce and he sold it to the stupids. I made an app that did more than PONO and not enough people cared. All because GOOD ENOUGH is the way our society operates. Sick but true. For this reason, I have had it with the audio world. People claim to be experts and care but they aren't and they don't. It's all show. 

As for Neil, I'll stick with his old stuff. La NOISE is just that!!!

David Wiener
CEO - APHEX

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"Who listens to music on their phone?"
Uh, millions and millions. That's who. It's the ONLY place for me. I have 3 young kids and my phone (with an FM transmitter) is my ONLY option.
Do people realize how many kids (or adults) don't have a computer? Let alone a sound system...
But EVERYBODY has a phone.
"Who is Neil Young?"
Indeed!
There's Neil's future, right there.
(Btw, who is Peter Gabriel?)
Bill Seipel

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Pulling his music from Spotify is eliminating possible new fans and demographics. He'd be better off just doing better promotions on vinyl releases. Make the vinyl releases special. Appease his hardcore fans with vinyl, keep his presence alive with streaming. If he makes new fans from streaming, they'll eventually find the vinyl.

Thanks,

Jason Moore

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Neil Young might be wrong about streaming. But we know HE believes it. He has earned a voice from decades of saying what he means. So there is some authenticity that most will respect even if they disagree. 

Taylor Swift may be right about Apple. But who knows where that statement came from. I don't trust that is HER opinion over that of her teams. Something about the whole thing was weird and felt like a stunt more than taking a stand. It was great PR. But I am not sure I care what she has to says. 

Stephen Chilton 

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How can you say all that about the 'Godfather of Grunge'? rotflmao

mmpoppa1

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"Bob, my current ASCAP statement shows one song of mine, of which I own a full 50%, both writer's and publisher's shares. This song had 170,278 plays. For this, I was paid $3.12. This comes out to $0.00000183 per play. Oh, how valued I feel. And then the people don't want to pay ten bucks a month for unlimited music. Fuck them, they don't deserve any music.

Rob Meurer"

well somebody should "follow the money" cause I'm playing about 7500-8000 songs a month for 30k TLH (Total Listening Hours) and I pay my $56 to ProNet Licensing, who redistrubutes it to SoundEx, BMI, ASCAP, and SEASAC!

I have a strong feeling that too many hands are touching the cash, and there's not a direct enough path between broadcasters and artists.

Steven Leventhal

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Why isn't there room for all points of view? Neil tried to do something cool, so maybe it's not going to be a major hit but he was addressing the issues the best way he knew. The Pono thing can still have it's small pool of followers. Isn't that more the way of the future? I'm a small artist in a big sea with a selective fan base. What's wrong with that? Do we all have to follow the pied piper? Who is he anyway? Surely not Neil, or you … but maybe the next great artist who flies under the radar doing something original who is living his or her life on his or her terms. My day job is planting elaborate flower gardens for rich people but I can still run a recording studio and have contracts with film, television and other commercial entities. Why is your model so either/or?

Kristina Stykos
Pepperbox Studio
Chelsea, VT

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To Bob and all the other ignorant ones,

In general I like your letters but with your thoughts on sound quality you totally miss the point.
Ever thought about the simple fact that not everybody hears the same way and that there might be people with better hearing than you that do hear the difference ?

Regards
Jozef Pottgens

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Great post,

It's just a stitch up for his fans really

Ed Hogston

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Neil is going for scarcity but unfortunately no one cares

Robert Frech

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Maybe this is beating a dead (Crazy?) horse at this point, but it seems to me that most of the folks replying to your latest letter re: Neil Young and streaming are missing the point entirely. Either they're focussing upon what they perceive to be your denigration of Neil Young the man, the artist and/or his work, or they simply can't grasp or refuse to acknowledge the well understood science of audio, the limitations of the human ear and/or are in deep denial about their own subjectivity and confirmation bias.

From a scientific standpoint, there really is no debate. There's even an amazing Rational Wiki entry all about it, "Audio Woo":
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Audio_woo

The following quote from the article sums up the psychology of audio woo believers rather nicely:

"Explanations for why manufacturers, audiophiles and the "tweakers" perpetuate the myths of the subjective audio crowd are varied but one simple explanation is cognitive dissonance: having just spent thousands of dollars on something that does very little or nothing, it is easier to adjust one's thinking to "Wow! spending hundreds of dollars on little ceramic insulators that keep my speaker wires off the floor has opened up the sound stage and improved the distinction between the violin parts!", than it is to admit the fundamental realities that say "I can't believe how dumb I have been" and "my wife will kill me!". "

On top of this of course is the sad reality that, now in his seventies and after a lifetime of exposure to extremely loud amplification, Neil Young isn't even hearing anything at close to the full spectrum available to a younger ear. I'm sure lots of stuff sounds like shit to him unless it's in one of his controlled environments which I think it's safe to assume are full of "high end" subjectivity inducing equipment.

Lastly, the most important part of this whole thing isn't necessarily even the streaming itself, but rather the quality of the original recording, mixing and mastering.

Of course, like with many things, these pesky, objectively measurable facts prevent people from the self satisfaction that their predetermined ideas, delusions and misunderstandings somehow trump science such that arguing with them is much like the Heinlein quote "Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig."

Cheers!

Marty Ferrini

PS At home I pretty much listen to music exclusively from iTunes over my WiFi network to an AppleTV hooked up to a relatively modern, $400 Marantz 1403 slimline receiver and a mix of some vintage Wharfdale 60D's I found at my local Goodwill (eighty bucks for the pair - they sort of knew what they had!), some new Audio Engine P4 passives for surrounds and an 8" subwoofer and for movies a little Definitive center channel. It all sounds fantastic and didn't require inane incantations or breaking the bank.

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I'm from Neil Young's childhood hometown and so it's nearly blasphemy to speak ill of him but I think music needs to find the next technology iteration rather than some modest improvement on the old streaming platform. Is that video - it could be. Could it be oculus rift or the new Samsung phone based virtual reality - very possibly. It could be the ultimate concert all the time. I understand there are something like 12 different VR platforms launching for this holiday season. I think video will kill the radio star again soon.

I enjoy your passion. Thanks for your opinions and insight on life and music.

Be well
Noel Atkinson

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When I read your post this morning, I wanted to reply, but chose not to. There is an old saying: "Just because you can doesn't mean you should". I am a big fan of yours; but an even bigger fan of Neil. Neil Young is a master of Rock 'n Roll history! He guided me through my teens. I love what you do, and 99% of what you say, but leave Neil alone!!! He seriously cares and works to prove it.

Now that everyone else has chimed in, I thought I'd put in my puny two cents worth. Please, do not disrespect Neil Young!!! It's like you are sucker-punching the guy who rescued me from the evil step-parents.

Yours,

Kieron McKindle

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I am 56 years old.
I think that the market is devaluing celebrity. And I like that.
Middle class artists are the shit, to paraphrase Nick Offerman.
I think that artists worth millions of dollars are using guilt and shame to sustain their wealth, their percieved power, their celebrity. The same tactics used by the Republican Party since '68. (When my political consciousness awoke)
Celebrity is currently overvalued in the marketplace.
I saw Richard Buckner in a Louisville living room for $20.
Best show I'd seen since I saw Joe Henry and his son.
Makers, not complainers.
The market prefers makers.
Stream. Independently. Make.

Bob Barnett
Louisville
Buy local. Eat local. Read local.

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Bob,

Thanks for your insightful writings. As i read last nights "STOP" sign for a favorite "Old Man" of mine and many others, i considered responding. But after reading tonight's thoughtful and varied responses, decided there was another aspect of this very large and circumspect pie that many of us live, work in and feed on that seemed to not be significantly addressed.

Not sure a "full disclosure" here is necessary (as a fan i've been spinning "Harvest" since high school) but to be safe i did do some work with him ten years ago.

I was fortunate enough to attend the "Pine Knob" show (DTE Energy) in Detroit on Tuesday night. Sure, he did the "hits" in the beginning acoustic style. And they were extremely well received. The new material had it's plus sides as well. But what i saw on Tuesday (in spite of Neil's perceived (by some) irrelevance, failures in technological ventures (?) and missing whatever marks you're referring to) there was an amphitheater packed with zealous Neil Young fans.

The demographic was diverse. There were folks Neil's age. There were young people both under the pavilion as well as out on the grass. (not intended to be a euphemism:)

But here's the point - when even in some of the new songs, they went off into guitar jam heaven Neil style - they played their hearts out. The audience felt the muse and they responded in kind. it was LIVE MUSIC! The people there paying a sizable ticket price for an experience. It was even a little drizzly that night but folks still CHOSE to come enjoy a great live music show.

So regardless of all the other elements that can be argued, the aspect of him as a true artist performing a live show gave a piece of himself to people that night. (and and extra 10K for the encore) It was packed! And "Pine Knob" (as Neil said he'd always know it as) holds over 15,000 people.

I understand the draw with blogs and such. Whether anyone is a fan of Neil Young's music (old stuff or new stuff) or not - There apparently are thousands and thousands of folks who are just "out of touch" enough their own selves regarding internet/techno/downloads/streaming/ etc. arguments to maybe not care about that nearly as much as some of us think?

As i walked back to my car, i heard various Neil songs blasting out of car speakers. Don't know if it was streaming, CD's, itunes libraries or 8 tracks - but there was music in the air and a lot a very happy people.

Thanks for starting/keeping the conversations going. As a postlude here:
+ Since 1944 folks still dine at Patsy's in N.Y.
+ For some reason old as it is…millions of people still come to see the Grand Canyon every year.

Sincerely,
Gary Pigg

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So often you blast musician/artists for not being leaders like they were, for not doing whatever they want regardless… rhapsodizing about the past… then when an artist actually stands up and does exactly that… you dump all over him.

It's perplexing!

John Ashfield

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As a super engineer friend recently said, "No one cares about good sound anymore." Sad state. Many have never heard what a great record sounds like in today's cheap earbud, mp3 player world.

Why do the movie buffs get all the best audio and still buy high end systems?

Toto's "Asia", Boz Skaggs "Silk Degrees", Steely Dan and many other old analog, real world, no ProTools recordings when singers had to sing it in tune and players knew how to play an instrument and masters of their craft knew how to write great songs still sets a high mark in our history.

The good news is that everyone has access to everything ever recorded and many want to know the history. Great artists like Marvin Gaye, the Motown writers and musicians, The Stax crew, - Duck Dunn and Steve Cropper, Sam and Dave and Otis Redding, Miles Davis and the greats still teach us that great artists can touch our souls and move our feat.

Neil may have missed the best way to bring high end audio the public in a method that incorporates it all into one device, but kudos to him for trying!

Tommy Coomes

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I'm a songwriter Bob. I Have been for over thirty years. 
I'm Bernie Taupin. I'm Lamont Dozier. I'm Harlan Howard. I'm 
Harold Arlin. I'm Cindy Walker. I'm Avicii's frequent co-writer. I'm a nineteen year old kid who dreams of writing songs for others to sing.
I'm not pretty. My voice is weak. But I have been given the gift of songwriting. And I'm really fucking good. I write hits. I have a wife. Children. A life.

But you don't get that do you Bob? You have flippantly discounted and marginalized a whole vital part of the universal music community. Just like that.

You are not a friend. 

Bob DiPiero
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If high resolution audio didn't matter, I wouldn't be recording in the studio at 24-bit 96kHz, I'd be recording at 320kbps MP3.

Doesn't that sound foolish? Of course high resolution audio matters. Of course you can tell the difference, if you know what to listen for and if you have a decent pair of speakers.

But the music has to be mastered well, with dynamics instead of the compressed and limited messes we have today. Otherwise, it doesn't matter if it's 24/96 or a Spotify stream.

Keith Hanlon

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Dear Beth Nelson chapman,

What are you talking about?

Specifically, when you say:
"I've given up expecting you to care to understand the truth of what is happening. I just wish you'd go away and stop making things worse."
Could you please rephrase this or flesh out your argument a little better, because I've been subscribing to Bob's newsletter for about 7 years now and I can find no evidence of how he's "making things worse".

Thank you,

Eric Gall - Songwriter

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Reading all of these replies makes me chuckle. Sure payouts and sound quality may be low but....
I just returned from a 6 week tour of Europe. Each night after the show we would all retire to the hotel, cram into one guys room crack open a couple bottles of wine, bring up spotify on a laptop and pretend we were 16 yrs old and take turns playing DJ and talk music. Didn't care for a minute that we were listening on crappy computer speakers, the only thing that mattered is we had access to a plethora of great music in hundreds of genre's! ! We talked, listened, reminisced,argued laughed and generally had the time of our lives. Every member of the band had solo stuff on Spotify yet not one guy complained about it as we were doing the thing we loved, listening to music. The sound quality wasn't fantastic but who cares, for guys who grew up with 45's 8 tracks, cassettes and vinyl the reality was we just wanted to hear the songs. What this means to the general public? Nothing, what it meant to 5 guys on the road, away from home just trying to hang on to a little youth? Everything!!

Cheers
Tom Gillam
Austin Texas

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I've been reading you for a while.
Some of what you say makes sense, some is fun to read.

In this case, you are right and you are wrong.
Yes, people like you and your friends would not be able tell the difference between 128k and 160k or 320k. You just wouldn't.
But for someone like Neil or myself who live and breath and listen to their songs in the studio, that's all you hear for a year (while recording it). 
A song at 48k/24bit (for myself) or in his case 192k.
Well I guarantee you that I can blind test Tidal, vs Spotify vs Pono vs Studio any day.

I almost cried the first time I heard one of my mixed songs on iTunes… It sounded like nothing I knew. Where was the high end? And oh my god, why was there no bass in my song?
I rushed to the studio to re listen to it and it wasn't me. It was iTunes…
I realize that we "studio geeks" are not the common people listening to the music that is out there so I shut up.

Neil's mistake is to think that everyone hears like him or that anyone would care.
That's his mistake.
Only the old crooners and engineers like myself care.
But I didn't even care enough to buy his pono, even though I loved the thought.

Another idea you should throw around.
How could Apple Music have won?
By releasing 3 speakers with 3 different price points (the way they like to do it), which "only" stream Apple Music with voice command, without your phone. 
The Echo is a silent winner right now. Everyone will have one soon.
If Apple had jumped ahead of amazon and released a speaker to which you say: Play some Taylor Swift, they would have won the streaming war.

Sometimes I wish I'd work at Apple. ;-)

Paul Boutin
paulboutinonline.com

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The steam on Neil and streaming.. Here is your Friday file. Rant-a-roo. And yes I have d-loaded Neil's latest and agree.. Very Lazy Effort!

Clint Young

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Hey Bob,

I know this is late on this one. I been involved in all these different format experiments that didn't make it ( DVD Audio and beyond ) they mean nothing to the consumer. 99% can't tell the difference in quality. What matters to them is portability and easy to access and does it work on their phone. I could go into all the quality bit depth, compression etc. ( the public does not care ). The best place to hear music is in the studio where it was mixed. Its usually down hill from that point. The truth as picture quality improves sounds quality has gone down ( again no one cares ).

My first week at a label I sat in a meeting listening to a new record by a huge artist, still well known. The speakers in the label office were wired out of phase. It remained that way for quite a awhile. The emperor was naked. 

Neil's heart is in the right place, he has a good point and is right about good quality, God bless him for trying. But no one cares. For those of us who make ( write, produce, play) music. Enjoy it in the studio as you intended then never listen again in another environment. The odds are you'll only be disappointed. If a song sucks a polished turd at the highest resolution will probably not do any better. 

My kids who are into music have never asked for a new stereo or stereo speakers. Not hat they are older the've never bought a stereo insane speakers. Just ipods/ Iphones and ear buds. They bought into the "Beats" head phones. Jimmy and Dr. Dre. are the smart ones. 

D.

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Neil Young gets a pass because they love him for faded glory - blindly - or they couldn't give a single shit because he's a dinosaur who makes boring music about cars and fictional Canadian towns for old people. When you are in between a legend and a nobody people care. The two poles aren't worth your time thinking about.

Daniel Grgas

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I usually agree with you. Until you start picking on Neil Young. It's unnecessary. If your goal is to agitate and generate controversy (or to make more people hate you), great! Go for it. But would you really regret NOT picking on him? Peace & Love, man.

Mark Towns

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quit validating neil young
no one was gonna buy his stuff anyway
they already have it
dont need to buy it over and over again
hes old and his new stuff is awful
move on

Wayne Krauss

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I work in the live music space. Dance music to be exact. Hundreds of Concerts. Countless Music Festivals. I interact with friends, costumers, college kids, high school kids, etc. People need to understand - NO ONE CARES ABOUT THE QUALITY - what Spotify, iTunes, and everyone puts out - is absolutely perfect. I am a tech guy so I understand the quality streaming services are using. But believe me when I say: not one person ever talks to me about poor sound quality from iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, etc. Because no one cares. I can't recall a single conversation int he past 5 years discussing poor song quality. All people talk about is: where can I find music - whats fast - whats convenient - whats cheap - 

The fact these people (Neil, Tidal) think people care about song quality shows people like myself (and you) just how out of touch they are.

Kenneth Flick

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From: Al Kooper
Subject: R-E-S-P-E-C-T - Find out what it means to YOU

Neil Young produced an uncountable amount of original great work.
Shouldn't lessen that in history and in the albums you bought when you were younger.
What posseses you to drag him all over your column ?
Why don't you just get a mural for your writing room that says in big letters "NOBODY IS PERFECT"
and then think about what you are going to do when you are the same age as Neil Young is now.
People don't need to be warned, Bob - they have eyes & ears just like you.
They can make up their own minds. The plethora of artists from 1966 don't sell a great deal of new product
today but that is no reason to chastise them and then praise others who were influenced by them originally.
Let Neil do what he wants - I promise he won't harm you or others
OR you can do what I do - buy/steal/write about what you like and ignore the rest.
The first two lines of your current Neil column ?
Would you enjoy someone writing about YOU like that?
The Golden Rule applies here, Bob.
It's older than you, me, AND Neil Young.

@l k%per


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