MBW’s Stat Of The Week is a series in which we highlight a single data point that deserves the attention of the global music industry. Stat Of the Week is supported by Cinq Music Group, a technology-driven record label, distribution, and rights management company.
Will 2022 be defined as the year that hip-hop icons taught the music industry valuable lessons about the spending power of so-called ‘super fans’?
Last week, we learned that Snoop Dogg had sold over $44 million-worth of “stash box” NFTs, associated with his new B.O.D.R. (Bacc On Death Row) album, in just five days.
To generate that figure from streaming, at typical industry royalty rates, Snoop’s album would have to be played more than 11 billion times on the likes of Spotify.
Now another fascinating story is opening up: Kanye West (who now refers to himself as Ye) claimed in a media release yesterday (Saturday, February 19) that he had generated over $2 million in sales from his Stem Player device since Thursday (February 17).
Thursday was the date that Ye publicly confirmed he would be releasing his new album, Donda 2, exclusively via his Stem Player. The album will not be (legally) appearing on any streaming platforms at launch.
Ye’s Stem Player was first unveiled in August last year. A handheld circular device co-created by the artist’s own Yeezy Tech, it allows users to split the star’s music (or their own music) into stems, i.e. isolating drums, vocals, bass, samples etc.
It also enables users to manipulate these stems / samples, and create loops from them – meaning that Ye fans can use his recordings as the basis to create fresh tracks.
Ye’s Stem Player can be purchased online (via KanyeWest.com and stemplayer.com) for $200 (US) / £200 (UK).
Therefore, for Ye’s claim of $2 million-plus revenues from the Stem Player in those three days – Thursday through Saturday – to stand up, it must also be true that the star sold around 10,000 units of the device in that timeframe.
Donda 2, due for release on Tuesday (February 22), is the follow-up to Ye’s Grammy-nominated Donda, which achieved one of the biggest ever first weeks for an album on both Spotify and Apple Music when it was released in August last year.
In the weeks following its release, Donda surpassed a billion streams on Spotify globally.
“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.”
Kanye West (on February 17)
Despite this blockbuster success, Ye has decided to completely shun streaming platforms with Donda 2’s release – while being vocal about his opposition to music’s modern digital model.
He wrote on Instagram on Thursday (February 17): “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.”
A media release issued yesterday (February 19) on behalf of Ye reads: “YE TAKES FULL OWNERSHIP OF HIS MUSIC WITH THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF DONDA 2 RELEASING EXCLUSIVELY ON HIS NEWEST STREAMING DEVICE, STEM PLAYER ON 2.22.22.”
Ye’s first Donda album was released on his own Getting Out Our Dreams II label, and distributed by Universal Music Group-owned Def Jam.
Intriguingly, Ye’s all-caps media release this weekend carries the headline: “YE PASSES $100 MILLION DEAL WITH APPLE TO RELEASE DONDA 2 ON STEM PLAYER.”
However, it didn’t offer any more detail on the alleged $100 million offer from Apple.
If that figure is accurate, it makes you wonder: what might Apple demand for a nine-figure agreement with Kanye West?
After 10 albums after being under 10 contracts. I turned down a hundred million dollar Apple deal. No one can pay me to be disrespected… Tech companies made music practically free so if you don’t do merch sneakers and tours you don’t eat.”
Kanye West (on February 18)
You’d assume that one element of such a deal would be a livestreaming exclusive partnership for Ye’s Donda 2 launch concert (‘The Donda Experience’), which will be held at Miami’s LoanDepot Park Stadium on Tuesday (February 22), featuring performances from Ye and “additional special guests”.
Apple was the livestreaming partner of a series of Ye “listening parties” for the Donda album before it arrived last year.
Tickets for the new Donda Experience show are being sold by Ticketmaster, and are currently priced between $95 and $282, with VIP packages priced between $850 and $1,100.
But $100 million is a lot of dough for a mere livestreaming partnership. Might Apple also have been willing to pay to lock down a streaming-exclusive release agreement for Donda 2 – and perhaps future Ye albums?
Whatever Apple (allegedly) proposed, Ye’s outright snub of streaming for Donda 2 has put paid to any mooted agreement between the artist and the Cupertino giant.
On Friday (February 18), Ye posted a screenshot of a text message on Instagram, seemingly from an unnamed industry associate, that reads: “From Damian. Please inform Ye that the Apple is no longer doing the sponsorship deal.”
The star commented in another post: “After 10 albums after being under 10 contracts. I turned down a hundred million dollar Apple deal. No one can pay me to be disrespected. We set our own price for our art. Tech companies made music practically free so if you don’t do merch sneakers and tours you don’t eat.
“Jay Z made Tidal and fake media attacked him. Well in the words of my big brother. Come and get me. I’m willing to die standing cause I ain’t living on my knees no more. God please cover me. I run this company 100% I don’t have to ask for permission. This is our 2nd generation stem player. We have more things we working on.”
So how will Ye’s experiment – requiring fans to buy a $200 piece of playback hardware in order to legally hear his upcoming album – pan out?
Judging by the comments thread on Ye’s Instagram account over the past week, there is certainly upset amongst sections of his fanbase that the star is asking them to cough up for a Stem Player in order to hear Donda 2.
Some fans are also not delighted about losing the instant convenience of a release landing on their favored streaming service.
Yet from an industry perspective, Kanye West is actively challenging, even protesting, the now-standard everything-goes-on-Spotify-on-day-one streaming paradigm.
By locking his new album release (as best he can; it’s bound to be pirated) to a high-ticket tech device, Ye is following the long-held premium retail strategy of scarcity: financially testing the devotion of his most hardened fanbase, and their desire to be part of a one-time event.
Through this lens, the Stem Player itself could be seen as a hi-tech piece of artist merchandise – a desirable, commemorative keepsake from this period of Ye’s career that many mega-fans might be proud to own.
Also, considering the Beatles (via Stella McCartney) are currently selling a branded cardigan for $1,395, perhaps the $200 price-tag of the Stem Player isn’t quite as prohibitive to sections of Ye’s fanbase as his detractors might like to claim.
One thing’s for sure: Amid often fiery conversations about what streaming has done to the value of music – both in the consumer’s mind, and in real economic terms – Ye is conducting a must-watch experiment with Donda 2 and Stem Player.
Yes, it’s an experiment that could backfire. On Friday, Ye stated that his tech firm currently had 67,000 Stem Players available for sale and was manufacturing 3,000 a day.
The next day, he revealed that the Stem Player had secured $9.5 million in lifetime net revenues to date; equivalent to around 47,500 total unit sales.
These stats indicate that, even if the Stem Player generates massive demand and sells out before Tuesday, Donda 2 would still only (legally) be heard by less than 125,000 Stem Player-owning Ye fans.
Reach-wise, that’s a far cry from a billion Spotify streams.
At the same time, though, West appears to be making a targeted play for a small-scale section of super-fans and super-fans only: If 15,000 people, for example, all bought Ye’s Stem Player to hear Donda 2, and also shelled out $200 for a front-section ticket to his Miami show, it would bank him a cool $6 million.
That kind of approach is never going to get you a No.1 record on the Billboard 200.
But it might, with a bit of luck – and a large enough subsection of affluent mega-fans – actually bank Ye more money than a billion or two streams would generate in royalties on the world’s leading digital platforms.
Read the media release issued yesterday (February 19) on behalf of Ye below.
YE PASSES $100 MILLION DEAL WITH APPLE TO RELEASE DONDA 2 ON STEM PLAYER
YE TAKES FULL OWNERSHIP OF HIS MUSIC WITH THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF DONDA 2 RELEASING EXCLUSIVELY ON HIS NEWEST STREAMING DEVICE, STEM PLAYER ON 2.22.22
IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE RELEASE OF THE DONDA 2, YE IS COMBINING MUSIC, ART, AND FASHION THROUGH HIS DONDA 2 PERFORMANCE EXPERIENCE AND YEEZY GAP COLLABORATION ENGINEERED BY BALENCIAGA
STEM PLAYER IS YE’S NEWEST AUDIO STREAMING DEVICE THAT HAS NETTED MORE THAN $2 MILLION IN REVENUE SINCE THE ANNOUNCEMENT ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17TH
STEM PLAYER ALLOWS USERS TO CUSTOMIZE ANY SONG AND FEATURES VOCAL CONTROLS, BEAT SAMPLES, REAL-TIME LOOP AND SPEED CONTROL, THE ABILITY TO SAVE, PLAYBACK, AND DOWNLOAD MIXES AND MUCH MORE
THE DONDA 2 PERFORMANCE EXPERIENCE WILL TAKE PLACE IN MIAMI, FL AT THE LOANDEPOT PARK WITH PERFORMANCES BY ADDITIONAL SPECIAL GUESTS ON
2.22.2022
