Kanye West, or Ye as he’s referred to now, has announced his plans to release Donda 2 as a Stem Player exclusive. For the uninitiated, Stem Player is Ye’s proprietary music player.
On Instagram, Ye revealed that Donda 2 will only be available to listen to via the Stem Player. Ye went on to explain the decision to not make the album available on Spotify, Apple Music, or even YouTube.
In the post, Ye writes: “Today artists get just 12% of the money the industry makes. It’s time to free music from this oppressive system.” The musician believes that moving the release of his album to the Stem Player will allow him to “take control”.
The Stem Player launched last year and had the first Donda album pre-installed. The Stem Player also touts that it allows users to “customize any song” with controls for vocals, instruments, effects, etc. It’s currently available for $200 USD (roughly $252 CAD). It also features four touch-sensitive light sensors, a haptics engine, a 97DB built-in speaker, a 3.5mm audio jack, Bluetooth, and 8GB of storage.
Ye partnered with Kano Computing and claims that production is ramping up. The musician says 67,000 Stem Player units are available. 3,000 units are manufactured each day.
Donda 2 will February 22, 2022. However, given the tumultuous release of the first Donda album, we may see a delay or two from Ye.
Source: Instagram
Image Credit: Stem Player
