Kanye West Has Announced That 'Donda 2' Will Not Be Available From Streaming Services...
We all agree that artists deserve to be paid more for their work...but not the way Kanye West is doing it.
The rapper, currently embroiled in a messy divorce with Kim Kardashian that he continues to make messier, just announced that his upcoming sequel album, Donda 2, will not be made available on any streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music.
Apparently, however, it may cost eager listeners $200 to actually hear the album, as they discovered when they went to the website to pre-order the album.
It's really not a good sign for your business strategy when you have people vowing to pirate your music before it even comes out. Even when music had to be printed onto Vinyl, it didn't cost that much.
Musicians and others who host their content on music streaming sites have long been frustrated with the small cuts they get when users stream their stuff - especially smaller artists who don't get to make money off of things like concert tours and appearance fees.
Years ago, Taylor Swift withheld her music from streaming platforms for similar reasons, but you could still pay the regular prices to buy her music from Apple or on a physical disc. (Remember those days?)
Kanye, if we were you, we'd rethink our business strategy here - maybe call Swift's team and have them give you some pointers.