By: Amanda Lee//
Kanye West is known across the globe for his bizarre rants, but recently in Seattle on his Saint Pablo Tour, it was all about his vision for the future of music. Kanye made sure to let his audience know exactly why there won’t be another Watch the Throne album with Jay Z, and he blames it on the Apple/Tidal rivalry. He also blames the beef as the reason why he and Jay Z were not included on the album version of ‘Pop Style’. He called it “some Tidal, some political shit, some shit about percentages on songs.”
Drake signed an exclusive deal with Apple Music that gave subscribers earlier streaming access to Views. Jay Z currently owns Tidal along with various other artists. Kanye owns a share of Tidal and made his album The Life of Pablo exclusive to Tidal before eventually offering it on other streaming sites. So the question is, why should we care about what Kanye is ranting about this time? Well, because he actually has a point!
Corporate rivalries should never stifle creativity. The music industry and how we’re listening to music is changing and streaming services have become increasingly popular. The exclusive deals and access have made it difficult for fans to get their hands on the content as soon as possible. Kanye previously voiced his frustration over the Apple/Tidal issue, and over the summer he went on a Twitter rant and called for a meeting between Apple executives and others to resolve the issue. He even suggested that Apple Music should just buy Tidal.
Personally, I think streaming wars are far from over. Unfortunately, when it comes to music streaming, the people who are getting the short end of the stick are the music fans themselves. As Kanye said on Twitter “we all gon’ be dead in 100 years. Let the kids have the music.”
The problem is the extremely outdated revenue model of the music industry. Make music free and watch the record companies and streaming sites go away and die. Music should be building brand awareness and the better your music then the better your brand. When you take money out of the equation you don’t get studio albums you get artists. Someone like Kanye decides to give away his music for free then the amount of money for an appearance skyrockets, the sale of yeezy sneakers will go through the roof and anything he touches will be considered gold. Because “HE WAS SO SELFLESS” just giving away his music for free. Music sales are peanuts compared to how global a brand can actually be. Facebook is free, reaches 1.2 billion people, worth 350 billion dollars, one of the biggest brands in the world. Just a thought. Stop doing things the same way it’s always been.