Is Kanye West a jeen-yuhs for streaming 'Donda 2' only on his Stem Player?...
Last week Kanye West announced that he will be cutting out the middleman and releasing his latest album ‘Donda 2’ directly to consumers. Let's deep dive into what this means...
Happy New Week,
Last week Kanye West announced that he will be cutting out the middleman and releasing his latest album ‘Donda 2’ directly to consumers. Fans will be able to listen to his latest album by purchasing the ‘Stem Player’ created by Kanye West. This is very interesting as artists are constantly complaining about how much labels and streaming platforms take from them.
When it comes to how artists monetise their recorded music, the discussion is often centred around streams. The amount of streams a song earns correlates with the amount of money the artist makes. However, each streaming platform offers different payouts (see below). Musicians focusing solely on streams isn’t the most financially sustainable move.
Kanye said in a post “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.” Donda 2, “will only be available on my own platform, the Stem Player. Not on Apple Amazon Spotify or YouTube.” The stem player allows users to remix the album’s songs using stems of vocals, drums, bass, samples, and more.
Kanye’s Stem Player move reminds me of the late Nipsey Hussle’s ‘Proud to Pay’ campaign where he sold his mixtape ‘Crenshaw’ for $100 each and only made 1000 physical copies. This challenged music industry norms as it allowed fans to bypass record labels and buy directly from artists. No other artist has ever sold a mixtape for $100 and this turned a lot of heads including Jay Z who bought 100 copies to support.
“If you are proud to pay for it, this is the price of it.” Nipsey Hussle
To thrive in the industry, artists need to take ownership of their audiences and think more like businesses. Kanye has already made $2.2 million in 24 hours, selling each stem player for $200. Kanye is joining the fight and trying to change the old system of how labels benefit hugely and unfairly from their artists.
“To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete.” Buckminister Fuller
Benefits of a direct to consumer model
Huge Revenue Generation Opportunity
Kanye doesn’t need that many sales to make millions off this release. He just needs his super fans to purchase. He can still make more from touring and merchandise from his normal fans.
Find your true fans
Another benefit of Kanye selling direct to consumers is getting raw data, through this Kanye is able to get information about who his superfans are, where they’re based, the raw demographics which can guide further marketing and business decisions. Kanye’s team will benefit from segmenting, understanding fans, and learning how to engage them.
You cut out the middle man
Fans feel a closer connection buying straight from the source rather than a streaming service, where every artist's catalogue is at your fingertips. There’s also a feel-good factor in knowing that by purchasing directly from an artist, you are contributing to their success.
Although direct to consumer is a great approach and gives Kanye ownership, there is still the issue of some of his biggest fans not being able to afford $200 for a stem player. This, therefore, means a lack of access and inclusivity, inevitably leading to people illegally streaming the album. As a rapper who is already a billionaire, this isn’t really the best brand positioning. However, business is business and it is difficult to cater to all, hence why you have to offer different touchpoints for different types of fans.
To conclude, one thing this definitely does is push the conversation around artist vs label ownership forward. It takes time to build a loyal fanbase, but the sooner artists or brands focus more on connecting with their audience directly, the better. You can then segment them based on their engagement and create different touchpoints for them.