Kanye West Calls Apple Music 'Oppressive'

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Kanye West Calls Apple Music 'Oppressive' and Insists You Buy This 'Stem Player' to Listen to 'Donda 2'

It’s not uncommon for artists to come up with some weird ideas, but Kanye West’s forthcoming release of his latest hit album, Donda 2, could very well be

www.idropnews.com

 

[thedreampolice]

oh man, two of my favorites fighting lmao.

This article is a bit of clickbait because he actually doesn't single Apple Music out at all. He goes after all streaming platforms because artists don't make enough from them. Of course as you know, Apple products are filled with controversy and there are passionate views on both sides which is why they would write a headline like that.

I think his criticism is fair, but the reality is that it's a complicated issue because one reason artists don't get enough is because of labels. Depending on the deal the label will take over 70% of the streaming revenue. Also Kanye at one point had serious ties to the Tidal streaming service so I do get a bit suspect when he criticizes other platforms. Tidal has the best payout for artists of any streaming service that's actually used (unlike Napster) with Apple Music a close second. Spotify and Youtube music are pretty bad, here is the per stream breakdown.

Napster $0.019 per stream
Tidal $0.01284 per stream

Apple Music $0.00783 per stream
Deezer $0.0064 per stream
Spotify $0.00437 per stream
Amazon $0.00402 per stream
Pandora $0.00133 per stream
YouTube $0.0.00069 per view

I know this will shock no one but I personally switched from Spotify to Apple Music, because with all the Apple products I have it just works better and because I like that Apple Music pays the artist a bit more. I don't want to have a big Apple fight in this thread, but Apple historically has been a very creator friendly company. So I'm not surprised that they would pay more out of the gate. And it works great on Android and Windows, which blows my mind that Apple is making Android apps.

Should streams pay out even more than that? Probably, but in fairness the streaming services needs to remain a viable profitable business and at $10 a month per user how much can they really pay and remain profitable? Its still better then widespread piracy, but certainly the services could do better. So while I agree with Kanye on this, I think he is simplifying the issue quite a lot. And seriously WTF is up with his $200 music player thing. Come on now.

Spotify has the largest user base (Apple music is gaining ground fast, something I did not expect) so you can't just not put music on Spotify if you want your stuff to actually be heard. I don't really know the best solution. But I think its worth discussing for sure.

 

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The payouts for any platform is outright thievery. The artist is the one driving people to the platform, yet they get paid less than a penny. Ridiculous.

An artist's manager gets what, 20%? As they should. For an entire platform to pay so little is insane.

And Kanye is a fucking retard, thinking people are going to buy his shitty device to listen to his shitty album. As it turns out, it was hacked immediately and leaked online, so you can download his amazing music without buying that device.

 

[thedreampolice]

The payouts for any platform is outright thievery. The artist is the one driving people to the platform, yet they get paid less than a penny. Ridiculous.

An artist's manager gets what, 20%? As they should. For an entire platform to pay so little is insane.

And Kanye is a fucking retard, thinking people are going to buy his shitty device to listen to his shitty album. As it turns out, it was hacked immediately and leaked online, so you can download his amazing music without buying that device.

Is it really the artist driving people to the platform? Or is it the label marketing the artist? Hard to say. But of course I think artists should ALWAYS be paid more.

 

[2GooD Productions]

Is it really the artist driving people to the platform? Or is it the label marketing the artist? Hard to say. But of course I think artists should ALWAYS be paid more.

I would say its the label marketing the artist, unless the artist is in a position to fund their own advertising campaign, which is fucking expensive.

 

[Kane the MOD]

I would say its the label marketing the artist, unless the artist is in a position to fund their own advertising campaign, which is fucking expensive.

Nowadays: if a song pops on Tik Tok people check for the video on Youtube creating traffic and creating streams on other platforms afterwards. The labels sign the artists with the most followers and traffic.

At least that is what picked up from King Crooked.

 

[thedreampolice]

I would say its the label marketing the artist, unless the artist is in a position to fund their own advertising campaign, which is fucking expensive.

This is what I’m going through now, since I’m on a tiny label. The marketing is tough and expensive. So I’m all about the independent artist, but I still think labels bring value to an artist. I’m thrilled that I don’t have to go it alone on marketing and promo etc.