Kanye West’s business strategy often has a natural tension between his artistic dreams and business objectives. Some of the most memorable albums that weren’t available on Spotify have all made their way there-whether it’s Lemonade, 25, The Chronic, The Blueprint, or 1989.
After a set amount of time, he can release it onto the major streaming players. Ye can try to get the best of both worlds by windowing his music release for Donda 2. Time will tell how long Kanye will do the same. Many of those fans have already bought Yeezys, concert tickets to his album listening parties, merch, and other products.īut if this product sits at the bottom of Ye’s funnel, it limits distribution and impact for Donda 2 as a streaming product*.* That’s a tradeoff that many DTC-minded independent artists are willing to make. But it also helps him segment fans at the bottom of his funnel. Kanye’s stem player allows him to earn more from his music-not unlike vinyl sales or other physical releases. Most artists would love to earn more from their art, but they welcome the additional revenue that streaming has enabled. But they are exceptions, not the norm.įor most artists at Kanye’s level though, music generates more money as a marketing tool for concert ticket sales than it does from streaming revenue alone. It feels true for Russ, Chance The Rapper, 3LAU, and others. These DTC-inspired options worked best for artists who care more about super-serving their niche than achieving worldwide ubiquity. From Neil Young’s short-lived Pono, to Ryan Leslie’s SuperPhone, to distribution services like UnitedMasters and TuneCore, to NFTs and Web3 platforms for artists. The DTC approach in musicĮvery few years, there’s a new push from artists and the industry to embrace independence through either hardware or software. But there’s tension in that dream for someone like Ye, who tried to go head-to-head against Drake for first-week album sales less than six months ago. That’s less important for artists like Nipsey who followed the 1,000 True Fans mentality. His Yeezy sales and Donda listening parties are examples of this.īut the tradeoff of releasing music DTC and not through the streaming services is that it limits distribution. But Ye does have a lot of passionate fans who will buy almost anything he puts out. Every Instagram post that generates headlines was designed to do so. And unlike Nipsey, Ye thrives on the mass media coverage he creates. He reached the superstar level (and very much wanted to get there). His vertically integrated approach made perfect sense for the artist who wanted to super-serve his base. He wasn’t a superstar, but that wasn’t his goal. Nipsey’s approach was tight-knit and in sync. The exclusivity period belongs to a platform we own and control.”
Then, after a week, it can go live on all other platforms. “You can go to The Marathon store for the first week and hear the song or view the video in-store. That’s the same model as Apple, if you think about it… From the ownership of the actual master, to the retail experience and marketing the product, to consuming it. Not only do we own the supply chain, but we can curate the experience. “We’re creating an ecosystem, from production to consumption. His desire to “take control and build your own” reminds me of Nipsey Hussle’s vision for his Marathon Clothing Store to be modeled after Apple.
In Kanye’s Instagram post announcing Donda’s exclusivity, he referenced the “ oppressive system” where artists earn just 12% of the money that the music industry makes. But the strategy works best when the artist’s mentality and overall goals are in sync. Going direct-to-consumer can be a beautiful thing for artists, especially in the streaming era. He says he’s creating 3,000 players per day. Kanye has self-reported that the stem player has made over $1 million in revenue since his announcement. Ye’s decision to release Donda 2 exclusively through his Stem Player is the latest move from a star artist who wants to go direct to consumer.
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