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It’s not the first time an artist has mooned the record companies, but this time, Ye (or Kanye if you’re from 2020), is taking the fight to the streaming giants. His next album, Donda 2 will be available on his own device, the Stem player. Think of the $200 puck-sized gadget as your own portable MIDI station because it allows listeners to disassemble songs into “stems” so you can have control over individual tracks such as vocals, harmony, guitar, drums, samples etc.
Stem player will allow for real-time effects for any song, but some big-name artists like Jay-Z, The Weeknd, Lil Baby, Playboi Carti, Kid Cudi and more have already signed up their support. Kanye claims that currently artists only make 12% of the music industry’s profits and this is his way of creating a more transparent music ecosystem. Will people and other artists catch on with the idea remain to be seen.
The Stem player can also be used as a music player with an array of formats supported with USB-C, Bluetooth or 3.5mm as connectivity options for headphones. There’s a built-in speaker too and various methods to save your own “mix” on its 8GB of onboard storage. Instrument or playback device? You decide!