Before the release of “Donda“, Kanye West held multiple successful listening events for his album on Apple Music. And allegedly, the rapper was in talks with Apple Music to stream his new “Donda 2” album on the platform. However, the deal did not go through and now, upset West is going after Apple.
In a series of posts on social media, he accused that the music streaming industry runs an “oppressive system” by giving only a fraction of the earnings. In a now-deleted Instagram post, he claimed to have turned down a $100 million offer from Apple Music because the service was allegedly disrespecting him as an artist. West wrote, “No one can pay me to be disrespected.”
Recently, Kanye West announced that Donda 2, coming out in February, will exclusively be available on his own $200 “Stem Player” device to “free music from this oppressive system”.
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 this oppressive system. It’s time to take control and build our own. Go to stemplayer.com now to order.
Kanye West’s alleged $100 million deal with Apple was actually a $2 million deal to stream the “Donda 2” listening event this month
Allegedly, Apple Music was going to stream an upcoming listening event of Donda 2 on February 22, 2022, but after West’s Stem Player announcement, Apple Music pulled the plug on that $2 million + sponsorship deal. West shared the screenshot of the message from Damian, spotted by @DJ Akademiks.
On Twitter, DJ Akademiks further elaborated that Apple Music was supposed to stream the February listening event but called off the deal which West boosted as a $100 million deal.
Apple pulls $2 million + sponsorship deal from Kanye West after he announced he won’t be putting Donda 2 on Apple Music. They were going to stream the 2/22/22 event.
— DJ Akademiks (@Akademiks) February 18, 2022
Keeping Kanye West’s eccentric track record in mind, it is likely he is starting an “anti-streaming revolution” against Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and YouTube to push his own Stem Player, a wireless music playing device that allows users to personalize songs by adding effects, creating loops and customizing tracks by changing bass, drums, adding vocals and more. The “Donda” album is also available on the speaker.
