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Kanye West's 'Donda 2' Album Not Coming to Apple Music

svenning said:
View attachment 1960817

For all the haters here’s some actual numbers.
1.3mil in profit in 24 hours is probably better than what any streaming service would have given
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Billionaire complaining about the 12% album revenue he technically doesn't even need. Yes he and other artist deserve to make their fair share but forcing the rest of us poor slobs to shell out $200 for a device to listen to his new album?

Not cool Ye.
 
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danny1305 said:
Here come all the people who “don’t like him”, but willingly click on an article that’s clearly about him LMAO
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Thoughtful analysis. I'm more worried about the article offering no value beyond an obvious SEO ploy. I'm here for news about Apple and Apple projects. And I was curious to see if other people felt the same way about an article that serves no editorial purpose.
 
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MacRumors said:


Kanye West, now known officially as "Ye," does not plan to release his next album, "Donda 2," on streaming services that include Apple Music and Spotify, opting instead for a proprietary platform.

stem-player-kanye-west.jpg

Ye said today on Instagram that "Donda 2" will be available only on the Stem Player, a $200 device that was released with the initial "Donda" album pre-installed. The Stem Player is designed to allow users to "customize any song" with controls for vocals, drums, bass, effects, and more.

As an explanation for why the album will not be coming to major streaming platforms, Ye said that artists "get just 12% of the money the industry makes," and that it's "time to free music from this oppressive system."


The Stem Player was developed in partnership with Kano Computing, and Ye is ramping up production to meet demand. Ye said that there are 67,000 units available, and 3,000 units are being manufactured each day.

Ye has in the past claimed that an album will be exclusive only to release it on streaming services later. Back in 2016, he said that his album "The Life of Pablo" would "never never never" come to Apple Music, only to release it on Apple Music a month later.

"Donda 2" is expected to launch next week, on February 22, and the Stem Player can be purchased online.

Article Link: Kanye West's 'Donda 2' Album Not Coming to Apple Music
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Will give that he has made some good music; but this is SO in keeping with his persona.
 
novagamer said:
I'm pretty sure STEM in this case does not have a double meaning, you might be unfamiliar with the term in audio engineering / production: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_(audio)

I think the player only supports 4 Stems given the interface so it's more like a glorified 4 track player/mixer in a neat case with a huge price tag and virtually no utility.

I cannot imagine a consumer using the Stem player for more than 20 minutes to play around with - how he is convinced / thinks he will convince others that it's a revolution is madness. Dolby Atmos is having a hard enough time catching-on out outside of Film & Apple Music and that has an entire industry push behind it with tangible benefits if you have the hardware and mix it correctly.

For this as a producer you probably have to have a specific mixdown of 4 tracks for the Stem player - not something you would create for any other service. Sampling parts of a song could be done easier with this via the line-out but the Artist would have to be on board with breaking up their music that way and good luck with that. Izotope etc. already can do a good job of isolating a part of a track and it works with every piece of digital audio ever made.

It's a toy bluetooth speaker with a big name brand behind it and probably a ton of Venture Capital he swindled some very dim rich folks out of.
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Ah, so it has a triple meaning... ?

Whether or not the meaning is intentional, it can still apply. Kano is all about education, that's my main point. You're 100% right about it being a toy. That's what I think is the whole idea - an educational toy, to give people with otherwise no experience with "audio engineering" an approachable taste of what is possible with digital audio. Think kids who play with Legos, not producers who play with Izotope.
 
Only 'oppressive' for multi millionaires. Streaming is a revolution for exposure of smaller bands and a solution from the alternative, which is rampant piracy because aint nobody want to pay for disposable music.
 
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drumpat01 said:
anyone who really wants the album can simply go to any pirate website and download it later that day it comes out. I do think the player is a novel idea, but gimmicky. Most people just want to listen to the music as it was written. I mean how often are you going to really sit there and remix the track as you listen to it?
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Worked out well for Neil Young and whatever stupid player he was trying to hock a few years ago. NOT!
 
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I've just done some googling because I was curious how his figures compare to pre-streaming days.

Apparently an artist only received around 10-13% of the sale of a CD. Maybe more if they were big enough to have the power to demand it.

So... if the artist is getting 12% out of Apple... whilst that's essentially in keeping with historic values.

I'm sure this matter isn't so simple... but - ball park...
 
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