Neil Young gives Greenland free access to his music and pulls it from Amazon because of Trump | music

Neil Young has donated a year’s worth of access to his music and documentary archive to the people of Greenland after the territory’s future became the subject of a fraught dispute with the US.

“I hope my films and musicals will relieve some of the unwarranted stress and threats faced by our unpopular and hopefully temporary government,” Young wrote in a statement on his website, Neil Young Archives, which provides comprehensive access to the 80-year-old songwriter’s recorded and live catalogs.

“It is my sincere wish that you can enjoy all my music in your beautiful home in Greenland, in the highest quality. This is an offering of peace and love. All the music I have made over the past 62 years is yours to listen to. You can renew for free as long as you are in Greenland. We hope that other organizations will follow our example. I love the Earth.”

On January 22, US President Donald Trump backed away from his insistence on claiming “right, title and ownership” in Greenland and said that a “framework for a future agreement” had been reached with the territory. He also withdrew the threat to impose tariffs on eight European countries after NATO allies deployed troops in response to Trump’s threat to seize the Arctic island by force.

Young’s offer came as he reiterated his objection to Amazon on the basis of CEO Jeff Bezos’ support for Donald Trump. In 2024, Amazon donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund. In October, Young announced that he would remove his music from the company’s streaming platform, Amazon Music (CDs and vinyl records remain available for purchase).

“Amazon is owned by Jeff Bezos, the billionaire supporter of the president,” Young wrote this week. “The President’s international policies and support for ICE make it impossible for me to ignore his actions. If you feel as I do, I highly recommend not using Amazon. There are many ways to avoid Amazon and support American individuals and American companies that make the same products. I’ve done that through my music and people searching can find it elsewhere.”

Young has advised potential listeners to purchase his LPs and CDs from record stores and find alternative digital options for streaming his music – although he has previously spoken out against most major streaming companies.

In 2022, Young removed his music from Spotify in protest of Joe Rogan’s podcast, which the platform then hosted exclusively, after the presenter spread misinformation about Covid. However, in 2024, Young returned to Spotify, shortly after Rogan’s podcast became available on platforms including Amazon, Apple and YouTube.

At the time, Young wrote on his website: “My decision comes as Apple and Amazon’s music services start offering the same misleading audio streaming features that I opposed at Spotify. I can’t leave Apple and Amazon, as Spotify did, because my music will have only a very limited streaming outlet for audiophiles at all, so I’m back at Spotify.”

In his new post, Young wrote that his decision to pull his music from Amazon Music was “unfortunately detrimental to my record label in the short term but I think the message I’m sending is important and clear.”

Earlier this month, Young made three posts denouncing the actions of ICE in Minneapolis, including the fatal shooting of Renee Judd. “Every move he makes is to create instability so he can stay in power,” Young wrote of Trump.

Young recently announced a European summer tour that will kick off at the Eden Project in Cornwall on June 17. Elvis Costello and The Imposters will be supporting on select dates.