The legendary rocker, who has launched his own music player, says people are listening to digital masters, which ‘are actually CDs on vinyl’

Neil Young has scoffed at the much ballyhooed vinyl revival, claiming the upsurge of interest in the beloved format is “really nothing but a fashion statement”.

Vinyl sales in both the US and UK rose significantly last year – though it should be said those rises were from very low bases. In the UK, vinyl sales passed 1m for the first time since 1997, while the format saw a 49% year-on-year sales rise in the US, with almost 8m sales.

Young, however, said there was no audio reason for music lovers to buy vinyl. “A lot of people that buy vinyl today don’t realise that they’re listening to CD masters on vinyl and that’s because the record companies have figured out that people want vinyl,” Young said in an interview with southern California radio show the Frame (via Exclaim). “And they’re only making CD masters in digital, so all the new products that come out on vinyl are actually CDs on vinyl, which is really nothing but a fashion statement.”

Young’s interview was to promote his own digital music player, Pono, of which he said: “I’m saying that it’s a high-resolution digital player. It doesn’t create an analog sound; it creates the best digital sound. It’s capable of creating the best sounds that people can create in the digital realm in the recording studios.”

The video for the Kickstarter appeal to fund Pono featured an array of famous musicians talking about Pono’s incredible sound. However, since its retail launch at the start of this year, it has suffered some poor write-ups.

Yahoo’s David Pogue tested Pono against an iPhone in blind tests with 15 people – and his subjects expressed a clear preference for the sound of an iPhone. Ars Technica headlined its review: “A tall, refreshing drink of snake oil.”