Kanye West says songwriters have been “hurt” by streaming services.
The 44-year-old rap star – who decided to release his new album ‘Donda 2’ exclusively on the Stem player – has claimed he is now music’s ‘main innovator’ after stepping away from services such as ‘Apple Music and Spotify.
In a since-deleted Instagram post, he wrote, “I left Apple right after having the most number 1s in Apple history. Songwriters have been really hurt by streaming platforms. Some say I’m the only one who can do that. change. So, as a leader in musical innovation for the past 20 years, I’m putting my own work on the line to change it. I have already won by not being afraid to move!
Now we are winning because there are real supporters who have invested their hard-earned money in my vision of freedom!”
The ‘Stronger’ rapper – who has four children with ex Kim Kardashian and legally changed his name to Ye in 2021 – has announced his decision to release ‘Donda 2’ only on the £150 device due to low artist royalties on streaming platforms.
He said: “Donda 2 will only be available on my own platform, the Stem Player. Not on Apple Amazon Spotify or YouTube. Artists today only get 12% of the money the industry makes .”
The ‘Can’t Tell Me Nothing’ hitmaker went on to say it’s time to ‘liberate music‘ from an ‘oppressive system’ as he urged fans to order the music device allowing users to customize songs by dividing them into “stems”. ‘
He added, “It’s time to free music from this oppressive system. It’s time to take control and build our own.”