With Kanye West’s recent announcement that his upcoming album, Donda 2, will only release exclusively on a Stem Player device, there were plenty of upset and disappointed fans.
That was due to the device carrying a high price tag and Ye revealing that his album wouldn’t be available on streaming platforms Apple Music and Spotify, or even YouTube, on the day of its release.
Despite the item’s expensive cost, Ye has since shared that he’s made over $2.2 million within just one day from sales of the device he promoted to fans for Donda 2.
Kanye West shares Stem Player numbers
Many Kanye West albums have been released through music streaming platforms or as physical compact discs. However, Ye announced he was looking to regain control of his music by exclusively offering Donda 2 on the Stem Player.
The handheld device, which can play multiple music formats, is priced at $200 and has a variety of unique features. They include options to chop songs into stems, loop them, and add other audio effects. However, as one would expect, many fans were disappointed that Ye limited Donda 2’s availability to such a costly device.
Early on Saturday, Ye shared an Instagram post showing the numbers that Stem Player has done since its launch. That included nearly $9.5 million in net sales since the launch in August 2021. It also included a staggering revelation that the Stem Players have made over $2.2 million since sharing the news of the device and Donda 2 on his Instagram.
Ye’s been known to share Instagram posts and then delete them soon after, including his numerous rants about his family and Pete Davidson. A screenshot below shows his original IG post, where he claims to have made over $2.2 million in a day from selling the Stem Player.
“We’ve made $2,227,012.05 in 24 hours God is good Thank you guys for taking this journey,” Ye wrote in his post’s caption.
As of this article, the post generated over 261,000 Likes and plenty of comments. Some of those praised Ye as a genius, and others continued to ask if he’ll consider putting Donda 2 on another music streaming platform.
Ye shared that he lost Apple sponsorship
Ahead of Ye sharing his various analytics and sales figures for the Stem Player, he shared a screenshot of a text message from someone named Damian. In the message, Damian informed someone from Ye’s camp that “Apple is no longer doing the sponsorship deal.”
“Duh,” Kanye wrote in his caption along with a few emojis.
Apple never made an official announcement ahead of Ye’s IG post. However, NME reported that the sponsorship was worth over $2 million.
Ahead of Ye’s Donda album being released last year, he performed several listening events. One of those included an August 5 Apple Music live stream, which set a record for their biggest live stream. His previous releases have ended up on Apple’s music platforms for purchase or streaming, along with other platforms.
However, it appears Apple chose to end the sponsorship deal with the rapper due to his Stem Player announcement, where Ye said it was the only way to listen to Donda 2 on its release date.
West has been particularly active on Instagram over the past several weeks, including rants about his family, his estranged wife’s new boyfriend, Kid Cudi, and Billie Eilish. While he’s deleted most of those posts, he’s been on a spree more recently, sharing posts related to Donda 2, and now his business matters.