Neil Young to open up entire online music archive for free

Christmas is coming early for Neil Young fans who will be treated to the upcoming release of his latest album and given access to an online archive of his entire music catalogue at the beginning of December.

Young announced in a recent Facebook post that he would be opening up his entire music catalogue for online streaming on Dec. 1, the same day his new album “The Visitor” will be released. He described the archive as “a place you can visit and experience every song I have ever released in the highest quality your machine will allow.”

What’s more, the Canadian music legend revealed that the extensive Neil Young Archives (NYA) will be available to anyone free of charge, at least upon launch.

“It’s the way it’s supposed to be. In the beginning, everything is free,” he wrote in the post.

In a message posted to the archives’ website, Young explains why he decided to compile all of his music into one archive.

“I’m very interested in collecting and organization, as well as mechanical things and old school record keeping,” he writes.

Every single recorded track or album by the Canadian singer-songwriter from 1963 until present will be “represented” in the archive, Young wrote. Listeners will be able to enjoy his music using Xstream Music high resolution streaming by OneStream on the website.

An interactive Timeline will also be available for fans to explore particular periods of Young’s musical career in detail. For even more background, visitors will have the option to use the site’s Filing Cabinet, which stores each individual song’s info card that contains associated credits, memorabilia, films or videos, press and photographs.

The Neil Young Archive is hardly a finished project, either.

“Information is still being added. The NYA is a living document,” he wrote. “All released albums and songs are available for you to enjoy. Thanks for listening!”