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That $200 price is freaking absurd, but Kanye is absolutely dead on about corporations grifting those who had the passion to create that art in the first place.

That's how it always is with Kanye for me though. His concepts are always phenomenal but the execution is rickety at best.
 
Ye's reasoning sounds good, but isn't 12% of say $100 the same as 100% of $12? If artists start selling their work directly, do they expect their fans to pay the same as now?

or, let's talk volume. So let's say fans will pay the same, but if you get paid 8x more per album but your fan base shrinks to 1/8 when you go direct, isn't your income the same?

Lastly, everyone knows Ye, but how many independent artists have been discovered only because they put their music on these "greedy" streaming platforms?
 
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No loss tbh
You have no idea.

Comments like this are subjective and dependant per listener based on their choice of music preferences and artists.

That said we DO KNOW the industry regardless of the streaming service or record companies do NOT pay artists a real far share. Not like Kanye himself really needs the money on his personal level (that is unless his divorce gets insane, judging by the passed-away Kardashian it's likely that'll happen).

Say what you will about Kanye (anyone) he is major producer and he does have a very eclectic and creative mind (especially for someone bi-polar). He's more than likely doing this as a platform or a feeler for other artists to think out of the box and pave their own way for their own streaming options and opt out of typical industry norms.

Kanye can afford to do this, new artist, in Hip-Hop, still relay first on local mix-tapes (digital records), played on local and regional then national radio/streaming platforms before they get signed.

We'll see how successful or a flop this is, and in the future how new artist make their moves or remain with industry norms/standards. I think Kanye is doing this exactly to start conversation, ideas, etc. It's a novel approach in a way similar to Roli's Seaboard digital 5-dimensional keyboards but will artists and the industry adapt/adjust or remain the same remains to be seen.
 
That $200 price is freaking absurd, but Kanye is absolutely dead on about corporations grifting those who had the passion to create that art in the first place.

That's how it always is with Kanye for me though. His concepts are always phenomenal but the execution is rickety at best.
Yup, I'm right there with you. One example: the Donda release livestream concert. What a phenomenal idea; get everyone watching the first live performance of an album to lead up to its release that evening. Except..... it didn't release that evening. There were three or four of those, all with diminished hype, before the album ever got uploaded to streaming services. Sloppy execution.

This is just absolutely insane. I actually considered buying the Stem Player when it was first announced just due to the novelty of being able to play with mixes. I would never buy it now though, being positioned as a $200 exclusive gateway to what should be a $10 album. I'll just pirate the album - easy decision. Now instead of 12% he gets 0%... Oh, well.
 
You need some very special talent, to make a device THIS ugly. ?
For him it's easy, just look at his Yeezys.

I used to love his music, guy was an awesome producer. Ever since his mental health issues, he has never been the same. Nowadays, he is just annoying.
 
I already have a device with me that can play music at all times. I don’t need another one.
I'm sure you're missing the point - it's not simply playing back music, nor is it just about changing playback etc, it's the concept of creating your own distribution and recouping all revenues.

yes most people don't need another device, and without mentioning if this will accept new songs/albums it's unknown/uncertain if this is jsut a 1-off move etc.

I think a LOT of people didn't fully read or comprehend the article much less get Kanye, and instead only see his antics etc and just disregard him. ;)
 
Kanye is irrelevant now and is just a massive douche with money. Like how he doesn’t like Kim dating other people now but he dates other women and it’s supposed to be fine. Or like how he went after Billie Eilish for saying that she likes to help her fans when they’re having a medical emergency after she helped a fan during a concert the other week even though she made no reference at all to his buddy Travis Scott who did nothing while his fans were being crushed to actual death and mass hospitalization at Astro World (and in the past he encouraged fans to climb up and jump from high places, including a guy who paralyzed himself at a show). But yeah that’s the guy Kanye would rather hang with. He’s a narcissistic joke and a has-been and even his biggest fans are turning on him in droves.
 
$200 for an 8GB device that you CAN load other music on via their web interface, which, per their own T&C, they can take down at any time w/o warning or having to refund you.

I can't seem to find anything else on what music you can currently purchase on his platform, and it seems to require you to use Chrome or Edge to access.

I agree he has a point about streaming services not paying artists nearly enough, and merch is where most bands make their money these days, however, exclusivity like this is only begging people to pirate.
 
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I love when artists complain that streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify pay so much less when compared to physical media of the past, as if streaming killed CDs. When in reality it was piracy that killed CDs. Spotify (and services like it) literally saved the music industry by moving people away from piracy and into a legal, profitable platform. When artists like Taylor Swift and Ye choose to stand up against these services by not releasing their music on the platforms, it doesn't encourage people to go buy a CD (or a $200 music player) in a store. It encourages people to pirate it.

So best of luck to you Ye, but in your quest against Apple Music/Spotify for paying too little, I'm sure your music will be all over the torrent sites shortly where you earn literally $0.
 
So he'll just release it on those services within 6 months then. I mean he said his other album would never show up on Apple only to do it a month later (I'm guessing cause sales were crap). I think its fair to give him 6 months though.
 
See, 808s & Heartbreak was a terrific album, still sounding incredibly fresh 13 years on. 'Paranoid' is a highlight. It set the tone for hip-hop to come and, for better or worse, brought auto-tune properly into the genre.

It just all went downhill from Yeezus onwards...
Yeah… there is nothing proper about Autotune. The creators of Autotune should be stood up against a wall and shot. It’s overused and has become a joke. All you have to do is steal a beat from the Roland 808, steal a bass line, and sing some inane nonsense through your Autotuned track and you have a song.
 
So he'll just release it on those services within 6 months then. I mean he said his other album would never show up on Apple only to do it a month later (I'm guessing cause sales were crap). I think its fair to give him 6 months though.
He said he would never release The Life of Pablo on Apple Music and then two months later it was on Apple Music.
 
Yeah… there is nothing proper about Autotune. The creators of Autotune should be stood up against a wall and shot. It’s overused and has become a joke. All you have to do is steal a beat from the Roland 808, steal a bass line, and sing some inane nonsense through your Autotuned track and you have a song.
Then it should be pretty easy for you to be successful in music then if that's all it is.
 
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Kanye’s historical impact on the music industry is significant. But the dude, himself… No thanks. Music is an art and therefore is subjective. My opinion of his music doesn’t matter. But I will say that I have purposefully avoided his music for quite a while. So missing out on an album isn’t a concern. I might not even notice if he stopped making music.

I missed a lot. Like why the f does he call himself “ye?” I don’t really care to know. I just feel dumb saying the word out loud. So why someone would want people to call them that baffles me. I guess I’ve had friends with worse nicknames. So who am I to judge, right? Lol

Anyway… I got nothing important to add. Artists can put their music wherever they want and when you have an audience the size of Kanye’s, your fans will follow you wherever your music ends up going.
 
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