Kanye West Roasted After Announcing 'Donda 2' Can Only Be Heard On His New $200 Listening Platform
Kanye West just recently announced that his upcoming album Donda 2 will only be available on his own newly made streaming service and device, and the rapper is catching heat from fans for making them pay $200 to hear his latest tracks.
Late Thursday night, the 44-year-old rapper announced on Instagram that his upcoming album Donda 2 will only be available to hear on his own streaming platform and music device, Stem Player, in an apparent move to battle the “oppressive system” of the current streaming music industry.
“Donda 2 will only be available on my own platform, the Stem Player,” he wrote, along with a sample of an upcoming track. “Not on Apple Amazon Spotify or YouTube. 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. Go to stemplayer.com now to order.”
In another post on Friday morning, Ye celebrated the fact that the new album – which is scheduled to be released February 22 – was making headlines for only being available via his Stem Player.
“We did it Don’t matter what happens 2mrw This happened tonight,” he captioned the post. “For the first time in a long time I feel alive we did it kid we did lord lift me up things change let’s keep it burning …”
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While Kanye is clearly excited about this new prospect, many of his fans and critics aren't — mainly because $200 is a steep price to pay just for access to an album.
“I mean I understand the logic. I’m not paying $200 for album that I wasn’t gone stream for free anyway but still…I understand the ambition,” one person wrote after hearing the news.
“F--k that I’m pirating that s--t,” another skeptical Ye fan wrote on Twitter regarding Stem Player and Donda 2.
“The device is $200 Love you Ye but $200 is wild my boy” another fan tweeted. “200 to listen to your music Kayne. F that. I’ll find it boot legged then," added someone else.
Kanye has yet to respond to the backlash.