Kanye West has announced that his forthcoming album, Donda 2, will launch exclusively on his own Stem Player device.
In an impassioned Instagram post, the rapper shocked fans with the revelation that his new music – which he intends to debut at a February 22 launch concert – wouldn't be releasing on streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music or YouTube.
“Today artists get just 12% of the money the industry makes,” West wrote in the caption accompanying the post. “It’s time to free music from this oppressive system. It’s time to take control and build our own.”
Check out the full post below:
West’s Stem Player, which allows users to remix songs into ‘stems’ using vocals, drums, bass and music samples, launched last year alongside the release of his first Donda album. It costs $200 / £200 / AU$275, and is only available to buy via a dedicated website.
West hasn't disclosed how many of the portable devices he's sold so far, but in a follow-up post he said "We currently have 67,000 available and are making 3,000 a day," which suggests he anticipates a surge in demand following his latest album announcement.
Unsurprisingly, the news that Donda 2 won't be coming to streaming services has caused a stir among fans. While many appreciate the need for industry-wide change when it comes to artists being paid a fair commission for their work, West’s solution requires that everyday listeners fork out a considerable sum of money for access to a single album.
“It’s time to free music, so buy this product or else you can’t listen to my album,” reads one pithy comment underneath West’s Instagram post. Another user wrote “And just like that I'm not listening.”
Another marketing masterclass?
If you ask us, though, West’s announcement appears to be simply another marketing ploy to drum up publicity for both his upcoming album and his Netflix documentary, Jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy (the first part of which released on February 16).
The artist is known for making bold claims prior to releasing new music, and this isn’t the first time West has declared that one of his albums would remain exclusive to a single platform.
In 2016, The Life Of Pablo was released with the caveat that it would be permanently exclusive to Jay-Z’s streaming service, Tidal, but it remained so for just two months before West opted to make the album available on other platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.
It wouldn't be misguided, then, to expect the same with Donda 2. While the album will almost certainly debut exclusively on West’s Stem Player, we don’t anticipate the artist will keep his new music behind such a huge paywall for too long.
It seems his fans have cottoned on to the strategy, too. “Kanye is a marketing god for building all this attention right before his documentary and Donda 2,” one user wrote.
It remains to be seen how effective Ye's latest stunt will prove at prompting sales of his Stem Player, but anyone reading between the lines may simply opt to play the long game and wait for Donda 2 to drop online, instead.
The new album is scheduled to release on February 22, so only time will tell whether music's loudest self-proclaimed Jeen-yuhs sticks to his guns.
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