Kanye West announced he wouldn’t be uploading his forthcoming Donda 2 album to digital streaming platforms such as Apple Music, Spotify and Amazon earlier this week. Instead, the Yeezy mogul said the highly anticipated sequel will only be available via the customizable stem player he released last year.
But apparently, Apple Music isn’t too happy about his “anti-streaming revolution.” On Friday (February 18), Ye shared a text that read, “From Damian. Please inform Ye that the apple is no longer doing the sponsorship deal.” He wrote in the caption, “Duh” with an eye roll emoji and laughing emoji.
A few hours later, Kanye West shared a text from “Randy” at Live Nation asking him to cut a $2 million check for the upcoming Miami listening event. He seized the opportunity to criticize Apple again and wondered why the company was willing to meet with Spotify CEO Daniel Ek but not him. At the same time, he recalled a strange detail about meeting Ek with the late Virgil Abloh in Ek’s home country of Switzerland.
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“I love how Apple only sees artist in only one way,” he wrote alongside a screenshot of the text. “They’ll sit with Daniel Ek but won’t meet with Ye. I remember me and Virg were with Daniel Ek in the club in Stockholm and he told me he could tell I get more pussy than him.”
Kanye West initially announced the stem player last August. The idea was to allow fans to be able to customize tracks with the ability to control drums, vocals, bass, samples and more. But fans likely didn’t expect Donda 2 to only be available through that format — and apparently neither did Apple.
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Kanye West Announces 'Donda 2' Will NOT Be Available On Streaming Services
Ye made the reveal in an Instagram post on Thursday (February 7) that read, “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. Go to stemplayer.com now to order.”
Donda 2 is expected to arrive on February 22 but Kanye being Kanye, that’s subject to change.
