Neil Young gives Greenland free access to his music catalog after suing Trump for using it

Neil Young has gifted his entire digital archive to the people of Greenland as a symbolic gesture of solidarity amid Donald Trump’s threats to annex the Danish territory.

The legendary musician, 80, announced the move, which he called “peace and love in a musical form”, on his website Tuesday.

“I’m honored to give a free year’s access to neilyoungarchives.com to all our friends in Greenland,” Young wrote. “I hope my Music and Music Films will ease some of the unwarranted stress and threats you are experiencing from our unpopular and hopefully temporary government.”

He concluded: “It is my sincere wish for you to be able to enjoy all of my music in your beautiful Greenland home, in its highest quality. This is an offer of peace and love. All the music I made during the last 62 years is yours to hear. We do hope other organizations will follow in the spirit of our example.”

The offer comes days after Trump said the “framework of a future deal” with Greenland had been reached following weeks of his claiming that the US “needs” the territory. The potential deal also led to Trump abandoning his plans to impose tariffs on European countries that disagreed with his taking the island by force.

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White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement shared with The Independent: “President Trump was not elected to preserve the status quo – he is a visionary leader who is always generating creative ideas to bolster US national security. Many of this President’s predecessors recognized the strategic logic of acquiring Greenland, but only President Trump has had the courage to pursue this seriously. As the President said, NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the United States, and Greenlanders would be better served if protected by the United States from modern threats in the Arctic region.”

Young has long been outspoken about his disdain for the president. Back in 2020, the “Harvest Moon” singer sued Trump for copyright infringement after he used two of his songs while campaigning.

In his lawsuit, Young alleged Trump played “Rockin’ In the Free World” and “Devil’s Sidewalk” without his permission at his rallies and political events. The suit was voluntarily dismissed months after it was filed.

“This complaint is not intended to disrespect the rights and opinions of American citizens, who are free to support the candidate of their choosing,” Young’s complaint read in part at the time.

“However, [Young] in good conscience cannot allow his music to be used as a ‘theme song’ for a divisive, un-American campaign of ignorance and hate.”

Earlier this week, Young also doubled down on his protest against Amazon due to CEO Jeff Bezos’s support of Trump amid his mass deportation efforts through Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Bezos donated $1m to Trump’s inaugural fund in 2024.

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The songwriter shared a message on his website Friday encouraging his fans to boycott Amazon, writing: “Amazon is owned by Jeff Bezos, a billionaire backer of the president. The president’s international policies and his support of ICE, make it impossible for me to ignore his actions. If you feel as I do, I strongly recommend that you do not use Amazon.”

“There are many ways to avoid Amazon and support individual Americans and American companies that supply the same products. I have done that with my music and people who are looking can find it in a lot of other places,” he said, encouraging listeners to buy music from local record stores or from independent digital services.

“My music will never be available on Amazon, as long as it is owned by Bezos. My position is unfortunately harmful to my record company in the short term but I think the message I am sending is important and clear,” Young wrote.

Young removed his music from Amazon’s platform in October. He similarly used his music rights for political protest by removing his discography from Spotify in a two-year boycott against podcaster Joe Rogan.