If You Want to Hear Kanye West’s New Album – You’ll Have to Buy a $200 Stem Player.
Last week, West announced that “Donda 2” would not be available on traditional music streaming services like Spotify (Spot) or Apple Music (AAPL), although the latter reportedly offered the rapper a $100 million deal. which he had rejected.
Instead, the album will stream exclusively on Yeh’s new pocket-sized device, the latest development in a music industry where payment and delivery models are increasingly being transformed by powerful digital trends such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
“Today artists get 12% of the money earned by the industry. It’s time to free music from this oppressive system. It’s time to take control and create your own,” West said in a statement.
Stem Player, which West created in collaboration with Kano Computing, allows users to manipulate music tracks via touch-sensitive controls.
Kano Computing CEO and close friend of the rapper, Alex Klein, told Yahoo Finance that the product creates a “deeper and more immersive” experience for consumers. It also opens the door for other artists to build stronger relationships with fans, but without relying on big technology.
Klein and West “both have a desire to reshape the world,” he said.
“The current paradigm in consumer electronics and software is harming our mental health… we wanted to create a way for us to interact with each other through music,” he continued.
‘This is the future’
Kanye West’s Stem Player (courtesy: Jon Tham, Elliot Schneiderman and James Hicks)
Stem player sales have skyrocketed amid the recent release of ‘Donda 2’. Klein said that “in just one day of sales, you were able to generate more revenue — $2.2 million — than would have generated 500 million streams on a traditional streaming platform.”
The executive reiterated that any initial concerns about the product have been “blown away,” adding that the company “stem more than $100,000 an hour” during a ‘Donda 2’ listening party in Miami earlier this week. Players were being taken”.
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According to Klein, consumers “want to support their favorite artists” and “get the work done the way the artists want to present it.”
“This is the future. This is the 2032 level of stuff,” the CEO continued.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 24: Kanye West attends the Los Angeles Mission’s annual Thanksgiving event at Los Angeles Mission on November 24, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images)
In addition to pocketing the majority of the revenue, selling these products direct-to-consumer gives the rap star outright ownership of customer data—a focus almost every tech and media company has.
The device also paves a new path for other artists, who can use Stem Player to launch their own special album releases. If successful, it is likely that this product will force the industry to redefine how it measures success – beyond just album sales and streaming downloads.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), position is measured within typical levels of at least 500,000 unit moves (gold) or platinum (more than 10 million). For certification, the sale of an album (or 10 permanent track downloads or 1,500 audio or video streams) is counted as a single unit.
As a result, it is unclear at this point how the RIAA will define West’s STEM player, and whether this instrument will count as an eligible entity for artists to submit to a Gold and Platinum certification application.
Still, it’s quite possible that the device could revolutionize the status quo, and force the RIAA to recognize the model, especially if sales continue to rise.
West is “so ambitious and goes after any opportunity,” Kano Computing’s Klein told Yahoo Finance.
“It’s a great privilege to partner with him and work with him, because he just says, ‘Why not?’ We need more… Courage to break barriers and break down walls. It takes courage,” the CEO continued.
“Together, none of the guesses will be very good as to what we do next,” he concluded.
Alexandra is a producer and entertainment correspondent at Yahoo Finance. follow him on twitter @alliecanal8193
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