Posted by Kanye West’s desire to bet on himself has been his mind frame for more than 20 years. As fans begin to relive the early stages of Ye with his Jeen-Yuhs documentary, his newest endeavor has reportedly put plenty of money in his pocket.
In a post shared to his Instagram account which he later deleted on Sunday (February 20), Ye boasted about the financial success of his newly launched Stem player, the first release in his Yeezy Tech line.
“To earn the $2.2 million we made on the first day on the stem player the album would have had to stream 500 million times,” Ye captioned the post. “We did more revenue on stemplayer, without the album even being out, than we would have done with the album being out on streaming.”
Kanye with a @stemplayer success update pic.twitter.com/IJmkxgRN2z
— Watching the Throne (@KanyePodcast) February 20, 2022
According to Ye, the only way fans can hear Donda 2 is to purchase the stem player as he recently ended his relationship with Apple Music and declared the album wouldn’t be released on streaming platforms.
Kanye West Drops Thanos-Sized Enemies List With Kid Cudi, TikTok, Wiz Khalifa, Skete + More
The reason behind the Stem player is because of Ye’s mission against streaming companies and labels in general. “Today artists get just 12% of the money the industry makes,” Ye said about the move. “It’s time to free music from this oppressive system. It’s time to take control and build our own.”
The move probably put Apple Music on his growing list of enemies over the years, including Pete Davidson, his estranged wife Kim Kardashian, label figureheads and more.