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Kanye West’s stem player has taken the internet by the storm. The rapper has decided to release his album Donda 2 exclusively through $200 USD Stem Players, while rejecting deals with major music platforms like Apple Music ($100M USD) and Spotify. It was reported that Ye sold 11,000 units of the Stem player within the first 24 hours of launch — a revenue of $2.2M USD.
In case you’re wondering, here’s a look at the stem player. You’ll have a better idea of what it is after you see this video.
Stem player: an audio streaming device that allows users to customize how they listen to music. The device also helps users create their own music by remixing songs.
Kanye West sold $2.2M USD-worth of stem players on launch day. Professional music artists today would have to sell 220,000 copies of a $10 USD album to make that amount — before DSP’s and labels take their share. More recent reports suggest Kanye secured $9.5M USD in revenues, selling approximately 47,500 units. The goal is to sell 67,000 stem players, which is a number that now actually seems achievable.
“Donda 2 will only be available on my own platform, the Stem Player. Not on Apple Amazon Spotify or YouTube. Today artists get just 12% of the money the industry makes. It’s time to free music from the oppressive system. It’s time to take control and build our own.”
“After 10 albums after being under 10 contracts. I turned down a hundred million dollar Apple deal. No one can pay me to be disrespected.”
“We set our own price for our art. Tech companies made music practically free so if you don’t do merch sneakers and tours, you don’t eat.”
“Jay Z made Tidal and fake media attacked him. Well in the words of my big brother. Come and get me. I’m willing to die standing cause I ain’t living on my knees no more. God please cover me. I run this company 100% I don’t have to ask for permission. This is our 2nd generation stem player. We have more things we working on.”
— Kanye West
💿 Kanye’s release of Donda 2 via stem player is a way of pushing back against music platforms that unfairly pay artists.
💸 Kanye West retains 100% of the revenue gained from stem player sales
📈Ye’s goal is to sell at least 67,000 units, which seems to be achievable
💪 Kanye’s stem player experiment could be a useful case study for other artists looking to be more financially independent
Feature image by djmag.com
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