Hi and thanks for tuning in to this episode of Reset, which for the first time in a

while isn't related in any way to the pandemic.

We don't even mention it, except for right here.

This time, we're bringing you an explainer that I hope will help you all think about music a little differently.

Oh, and it starts with a rant from a famous musician.

Enjoy.

It used to be everybody heard it. The whole world heard quality. Now the whole world hears shit.

This is legendary musician Neil Young. Yes, the same Neil Young who played the guitar part on Buffalo Springfield's for what it's worth.

And who sang harmonies on this classic Crosby Stills Nash and Young tune.

Ah, House is a very, very, very fine house.

And of course who wrote dozens of folk and rock

anthems like Rockin in the Free World.

We found rock in the free world.

Young is a legend of rock and roll.

He's got two Grammys and dozens of nominations. But over the years, he's taken up a cause that directly relates to his music career. He's become an audio quality crusader.

Which brings me to a recent episode of another Vox Media Podcast called The Virgecast.

Young did an interview with Neely Patel, and in that interview he spent quite a bit of time blasting the quality of streaming

music services and digital music recordings as a whole.

There's no doubt music is great, but the music that's out there today on Spotify and Apple is terrible. It's shitty.

That's basically what it is. If the audience wants to hear music, they haven't had a chance

if all they're doing is listening to Spotify.

So there's no way they could ever know.

...