Sam Oliver
Rapper Kanye West continued his French charm offensive on Friday, once again panning Apple's approach to recruiting talent for its annual iTunes Festival, and in the process revealing that the iPhone maker compensates performers with increased promotional space in the iTunes store rather than cash.
"I know you might have heard about this thing where I was on stage, like calling Tim Cook out and saying why do you have these guys performing at South by Southwest and you don't want to pay them," West said in an interview at the Cannes Lions festival. "You just want to give us extra space on the iTunes page and stuff, you know."
While not the first time West has commented on the matter, he had not previously said what Apple was offering — if anything — in return for artists' participation in the traditionally month-long festival, for which Apple does not charge admission. The company also streams live and recorded video of each show for free to owners of Macs, iOS devices, and Apple TVs.
Despite the Yeezus performer's disapproval, placement on the iTunes store is hugely valuable for artists. Apple's digital storefront accounts for more than 60 percent of the world's digital music market and a correspondingly large portion of overall music sales.
Those digital sales are declining, however, prompting Apple to explore alternatives in the increasingly important streaming space. Following the lackluster debut of iTunes Radio — considered a mediocre success at best despite its 40 million listeners — Apple purchased Beats Electronics, purveyors of premium headphones and a rapidly-growing subscription streaming service dubbed Beats Music.
The latter tie-up met with West's approval, as the newest Kardashian praised the addition of rap legend Dr. Dre and Interscope Records cofounder Jimmy Iovine to Apple's executive team following the acquisition.
"Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, it's that they are geniuses. Both of them are cultural geniuses, what they had done for so many years." he said. "And they just, they connected with the right company, by the way. It'
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78 Comments
Pay Kanye in fish sticks.
Oh, and also... **** him.
Maybe I am just too chill, but I think from the highlight from iTunes Festival and the amount of traffic & revenue that can be generated from increased Store placement is very sufficient in exchange for your talents - it may not be monetary but it certainly increases your clout and increases the change of potentially making longer term profits. There have been articles highlighting the advantage of taking Featured space for Apps (and I believe music) out there for awhile now and apparently it matters. Plus, I always thought of the iTunes Festival, as well as many other festivals, as fan driven events for the people who support talents and talents that want to support fans, not as profit driven events. But his perspective makes sense too, so I can't rail on him. That and I'm not really too knowledgable on the revenue system in the music Market.
Not sure this is a valid criticism. No artist is obligated to play the iTunes festival. Those who do must believe that promotional space (the lifeblood of the industry) is worth it. On a larger note, musicians and singers have a skill or innate talent that many of the rest of us simply don't have. And it's a talent that allows them to create something that many find moving, uplifting, beautiful, etc. But does this imply that they should be rewarded with anything more than the market will bear. If that means almost nothing for most struggling artists playing local venues, well, that's a reflection that there are so many available to offer their services as musical entertainers. There's another innate capability that a large number of people share that I don't; about half the population is able to grow and birth a baby. As a male, I don't have that capability. And the creation of a baby, like music, can be something moving, uplifting, and beautiful, but that doesn't mean people should be paid to create them. You make a baby because you have a strong desire to do so. You make music because you have a strong desire to do so. Each is its own reward. Quit complaining because so many others are doing it that you can't make a living at it. Go find other work, make your music for its own sake and your own enjoyment and be happy. NEXT!
So, What he's really saying, is that record labels that get iTunes sales from the Festival, are not compensating artists for sales of albums? Huh..
Well, Kanye and Kim have enough money to create their own label.. if he hasn't already.
What's the story here? Who cares if Apple compensates musicians with something other then cash so long as both parties voluntarily agree to the terms?