Joni Mitchell's Music Is Back on Spotify

Joni Mitchell has officially followed Neil Young back to Spotify.

The 80-year-old legend's music is once again available to stream on the platform, over two years after she left and a week after Young returned in the wake of a new deal inked last month that ended the controversial Joe Rogan Experience podcast's Spotify exclusivity.

Mitchell withdrew her music from Spotify in January 2022 in solidarity with Young, who had pulled his catalog in protest of COVID vaccine misinformation being spread by Rogan.

"I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines — potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them," Young wrote in a statement at the time. "They can have Rogan or Young. Not both."

Days later, Mitchell announced, "I've decided to remove all my music from Spotify. Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue."

Several other artists, including Young's Crazy Horse bandmate Nils Lofgren and (briefly) his old friends Crosby, Stills and Nash, also followed suit.

While Mitchell has not issued a statement on her return to the streaming service, Young explained his reasoning in a post on his on his Neil Young Archives website last week.

"Spotify, the #1 streaming of low res music in the world - Spotify where you get less quality than we made, will now be home of my music again," Young announced. "My decision comes as music services Apple and Amazon have started serving the same disinformation podcast features I opposed at SPOTIFY.

"I cannot just leave Apple and Amazon, like I did with Spotify, because my music would have very little streaming outlet to music lovers at all," he explained. "So I have returned to Spotify, in sincere hopes that Spotify sound quality will improve and people will be able to hear and feel all the music as we made it."

Never miss a story — sign up for the Q newsletter for the latest music news on all your favorite artists, all in one place.

Mitchell's return to Spotify comes as the singer has also returned to the public eye — and the stage — in an unexpected late-career resurgence after suffering a brain aneurysm in 2015.

In 2022, Mitchell made a surprise appearance with singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile at the Newport Folk Festival, delivering a set that was recorded in a Grammy Award-winning live album. The pair later followed that up with a full three-hour concert at the Gorge Amphitheater in Washington.

She accepted the Best Folk Album trophy for Joni Mitchell at Newport (Live) in person and performed her classic track "Both Sides Now" at the 2024 Grammys in February.

Carlile introduced Mitchell and joined her for the performance, the icon's first-ever at the Grammys. "Joni just turned 80 my friends, but we all know she's timeless," Carlile said.

Mitchell is also set to headline the Hollywood Bowl alongside Carlile and the "Joni Jam" band in October.