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Kanye West's new album won't come to streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music only his $200 music player

Ben Gilbert   

Kanye West's new album won't come to streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music — only his $200 music player
  • Billionaire musician and designer Kanye West isn't putting his new album on major streaming services.
  • Instead, Ye said, the new album "will only be streaming on my own platform, the Stem Player."

The only way to listen to Ye's next album will be by purchasing his $200 music player, the billionaire musician and fashion designer said.

The album isn't coming to "Apple, Amazon, Spotify, or YouTube," he said Thursday. "Today, artists get just 12% of the money the industry makes. It's time to free music from this oppressive system. It's time to take control and build our own."

Ye, who formally changed his name from Kanye West last October, took to Instagram on Thursday night to explain how it will work.

"'Donda 2' will only be streaming on my own platform, the Stem Player," Ye said. "You can download new music from stemplayer.com. You can play 4 different elements of the track: vocals, drums, bass and music. It also has a MP3 player available. We currently have 67,000 available and are making 3,000 a day."

Ye's Stem Player launched last year, soon after the release of the first "Donda" album. The one he's currently selling attached to "Donda 2" is the "second generation" model of the device.

In a separate post, Ye said he, "turned down a hundred million dollar Apple deal" and is instead putting out his next album on a platform he owns.

"Tech companies made music practically free," he said in a second shot at the aforementioned companies, "so if you don't do merch, sneakers, and tours you don't eat."

Many musicians, including Ye, have repeatedly criticized music streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music for paying artists low royalties for their music. Ye even released his 2016 album, "The Life of Pablo," exclusively through Tidal — a service that's now owned by Twitter parent company Block, but was at the time owned by West's longtime friend and mentor Shawn "Jay Z" Carter.

He later released the album on Spotify and Apple Music as well.

The new album, "Donda 2," is scheduled to launch on February 22. It's unclear if the album will remain exclusive in perpetuity. Ye's publicist didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Got a tip? Contact Insider senior correspondent Ben Gilbert via email (bgilbert@insider.com), or Twitter DM (@realbengilbert). We can keep sources anonymous. Use a non-work device to reach out. PR pitches by email only, please.

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