Kanye West won't release 'Donda 2' on 'oppressive' Apple Music or Spotify

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV
Calling out what he calls the "oppressive system" of streaming music services such as Apple Music, Kanye West says his forthcoming "Donda 2" album will be exclusively on his own Stem Player device.




Kanye West has announced the February 22, 2022, release of "Donda 2," a followup to his 2021 hit album. In an Instagram post, however, he decried how artists get just a fraction of the money that the Apple Music, Amazon, Spotify, and YouTube streaming services do.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ye (@kanyewest)

It's not clear why West isn't railing against the music publishing companies, that take ever more money from music sales and streams, than streaming services do.

Consequently, "Donda 2" will not be streamed on any of the major services. Listeners will have to buy a $200 Stem Player device to play the music digitally.

West owns the Stem Player platform. The device that connects to it is a small circular one that can break songs into "stems," such as isolating vocal tracks.

It's not clear how many songs the device can hold. It also requires connecting to a computer via USB to download music.

Kanye West is objecting to the whole streaming industry, but he has seen both success and support from Apple Music.

Apple held not one but three launch events for "Donda," when West repeatedly failed to release the album on schedule.

The Apple Music events were record-breaking successes for the music service. It's also estimated that quite apart from any streaming fees he received, West may have earned $7 million from related merchandise sales.

West has previously claimed that his company is a non-profit division of Apple.

Read on AppleInsider
«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 35
    “It's not clear how many songs the device can hold. It also requires connecting to a computer via USB to download music.“

    2001 wants its MP3 player back. 
    mike1mwhiteStrangeDayskillroymacguimattinozdarkvaderwatto_cobramcdaveFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 2 of 35
    Kanye should ask Neill Young how well the Pono worked out.
    mike1mwhitekillroydewmemacguitmaylolliverwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 35
    This is sounding like a trilogy plan. Donda 1 on streaming. Then Donda 2 only on Stem. Then Donda 3 on streaming again (saying that you're doing it for the fans). 
    lolliverwatto_cobraFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 4 of 35
    Oppressive yeah, like having fans waiting 2 hours for nothing and getting no consequences for not failing to keep up deadlines. I guess the 200$ device is actually like a 20$ device. This all feels like his T-shirts.

    Not a fan, don't listen to his music nor really follow him, but he gets on news way too often due to his ridiculousness. 
    killroyrobin hubermacguiJapheyelijahgdarkvaderwatto_cobraFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 5 of 35
    In other news. Merriam-Webster just got the rights to use Kanye’s photo with their definition of narcissist 
    NYC362lollivervztrv1darkvaderwatto_cobraFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 6 of 35
    Who cares?
    killroyJapheyelijahgdarkvaderwatto_cobraFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 7 of 35
    iOS_Guy80 said:
    Who cares?
    About what or who?
    patchythepirateJapheywatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 35
    netroxnetrox Posts: 1,415member
    "Listeners will have to buy a $200 Stem Player device to play the music digitally. West owns the Stem Player platform."

    It won't succeed. 

    I am really tired of singers, artists, and creatives protesting against those streaming companies when they SIGNED up knowing what they're getting. 


    killroythinkman100000000macguiwilliamhlolliverwatto_cobraFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 9 of 35
    Thank goodness for small favors, Yeeeeeesy ;-)
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 35
    Scot1Scot1 Posts: 121member
    spike2013 said:
    Kanye should ask Neill Young how well the Pono worked out.
    Pono?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 35
    genovellegenovelle Posts: 1,480member
    netrox said:
    "Listeners will have to buy a $200 Stem Player device to play the music digitally. West owns the Stem Player platform."

    It won't succeed. 

    I am really tired of singers, artists, and creatives protesting against those streaming companies when they SIGNED up knowing what they're getting. 


    In reality most artist did not signup for streaming it arrived after their contracts were signed so they are left in a position to be screwed over twice. 
    Beatsdarkvader
  • Reply 12 of 35

    Sorry ppl, it looks like a back pocket box-holder of you know what… >:)

    edited February 2022 watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 35
    chadbagchadbag Posts: 1,999member
    Actually the "stem player" sound interesting.   Not because I want to listen to his music (I lost definitely don't) but if they can get all the large libraries on board to sell their tracks on it and actually support its features on all their music it could be a great device.  Specifically the "stem" feature that lets you isolate tracks at the push of a button.  Pushing a button to get an isolated guitar or bass or drums or synth part would be awesome for people learning a song.  There used to be a software package that sold songs that had all tracks isolated (and would notate the song on screen).  This is a spiritual follow on and could be awesome.
    patchythepirateIreneW
  • Reply 14 of 35
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    netrox said:
    "Listeners will have to buy a $200 Stem Player device to play the music digitally. West owns the Stem Player platform."

    It won't succeed. 

    I am really tired of singers, artists, and creatives protesting against those streaming companies when they SIGNED up knowing what they're getting. 
    They often didn't; the records labels are the ones that deal with the streaming services, not the artists.  And if you think record label treat artists fairly, let me introduce you to every single record label ever.
    lolliverdarkvaderwatto_cobraFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 15 of 35
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Kanye West is a certified wack job and publicity whore.
    jibdarkvaderwatto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 35
    Honestly, at this point, a ringing endorsement from Ye in 2022 is basically the kiss of death…
    darkvaderwatto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 35
    BeatsBeats Posts: 3,073member
    The Stem Player is a great idea.

    Problem is, you don’t need hardware for it. Apple could announce the feature tomorrow with great support.

    Not sure why Kanye is being a di** to Apple who is very pro-artist and supported him so much.
    lolliverwatto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 35
    Kayne?  

    Who cares.

    Now, when are we going to hear what Apple is doing with Primephonic?  That is by far more important. 
    darkvaderwatto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 35
    So he’s a grifter, whines about everything, attacks the parties that help him the most and remains quiet against the labels that take the majority of sales, Apple takes enough to cover costs of hosting and pushing the streams.. And that Apple held 3 events for him and he failed to deliver… Sounds like a spoiled brat 
    Japheylolliverdarkvaderwatto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 35
    Narcissistic lunatic shouts, "LOOK AT ME!!!!!!"
    darkvaderwatto_cobraFileMakerFeller
Sign In or Register to comment.