Neil Young says he has pulled out of a scheduled performance at Glastonbury 2025 because of the BBC’s partnership with the festival. In a blog post on Tuesday (December 31), Young lamented that the broadcasting company, which is government-owned, had taken “corporate control” of the famously anti-commercial, nonprofit UK festival, which neither hosts brand partnerships (besides with some media outlets) nor allows ads on-site, other than those of selected charities. But the BBC, said Young, “wanted us to do a lot of things in a way we were not interested in. It seems Glastonbury is now under corporate control and is not the way I remember it being.”
Young, who headlined the festival in 2009, more than a decade after the BBC partnership began, added that it had been “one of (his) all-time favorite outdoor gigs,” but was now “a corporate turn-off.” His stand against one of the world’s most beloved festivals—which last year donated some $6.4 million to charities, The Guardian notes—is the latest in a series of objections to the music industry at large, notably taking issue with Spotify and Ticketmaster.
The only performer to have been formally confirmed for Glastonbury 2025 is Rod Stewart, who will play the Sunday-afternoon legends slot.
In Praise of Neil Young’s Eternal Battle With the Music Industry
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