Why Are Streaming Platforms Keeping Kanye When Other Companies Disconnect? | CBC News

Several weeks after a spate of anti-Semitic comments that eventually caused companies from Balenciaga to Vogue to Gap to TJ Maxx to sever ties, one area of ​​Yes Imperium remains relatively untouched.

Formerly known as Kanye West, rapper and producer Ye built his name as a cultural firebrand from a music career that spawned four multi-platinum albums and 11 Grammys before it was overshadowed by stage rants, controversy, and eventually anti-Semitic and other slurring remarks.

But despite it all, his music remained accessible on the major streaming platforms as brands and social media platforms came under pressure to remove him.

While it may seem counterintuitive for him to go unpunished in what is effectively his core business, it’s unlikely we’ll see the same kind of rejection and distancing on streaming sites as we do in other arenas.

“It doesn’t surprise me because they’re fundamentally different types of companies,” said Serona Elton, a professor who studies music industry at the University of Miami. “The nature of the business and contractual relationship with Ye is very different in these different sectors.”

CLOCK | Adidas cuts ties with Kanye West over anti-Semitic comments:

Adidas cuts ties with Kanye West over anti-Semitic remarks

Adidas has severed ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, after he made anti-Semitic comments both online and in interviews. It’s the latest in a series of blows to you following his recent comments, including being dropped from his talent agency.

While platforms like Instagram, Facebook and – most notably – Twitter have been locked in a debate over how and if music streaming has been largely exempted to exclude certain voices.

And the few times that streaming services have taken steps to remove an artist from their platform, like Spotify did after R&B singer R. Kelly’s conviction for sex crimes against children, they were later rebuffed.

Regarding Ye, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek recently told Reuters that they would take a similar stance. While he called his anti-Semitic messages “just horrible comments,” Ek said they wouldn’t take the rapper’s songs off their platform or wade into the realm of content moderation beyond artist song lyrics.

“It’s really just his music, and his music doesn’t violate our policies,” he said, adding, “It’s up to his label whether they want to take action or not.”

That sentiment is why Ye is being pushed out of public brand deals and social media platforms rather than spaces dedicated to sharing his productions, Elton said.

“There are other examples of musicians who have done things that are considered morally reprehensible and, in at least some cases, criminal,” she said, underscoring the damaging gravity of Yes’s recent statements. “And art still exists, and people can choose whether or not to consume it, based on how much they feel the connection between the artist and art should affect them.”

Controversial musicians

Bryan Sullivan, a founding partner at the Los Angeles-based law firm Early Sullivan, which specializes in crisis and risk management in the entertainment industry, said that with major artists, streaming services are usually constrained by the contracts they have with recording or publishing sign companies.

Those deals can run the gamut and differ from song to song on the same album, Sullivan said. They can require streaming platforms to host whatever the company sends them – meaning they can’t take anything down. Moreover, such contracts rarely contain morals clauses, Sullivan said of Hollywood requirements that require publicly known entertainment figures to adhere to certain standards of conduct.

A certain level of controversy has been observed in music, and hip-hop in particular, to boost sales and an artist’s overall buzz, although some analysts say this is changing following criticism of rappers 6ix9ine and DaBaby.

In the case of Yes, Sony Music still acts as the administrator for a large part of its music catalogue, controlling where its music can be sold and streamed. Because streaming services derive much of their revenue from subscribers and not advertising — like social media or retail sales like his fashion stores, Sullivan said even a drop in streaming numbers for Yes’s music is likely to do little to help Spotify or Apple to provoke music to remove its discography.

Record, songwriting deals ended

However, Ye has lost key partnerships for future music – his songwriting deal with Sony Music is expiring, as is his partnership with Universal Music’s record label Def Jam Recordings. His older music will likely retain its place on streaming services, said Jem Aswad, senior music editor at Variety, but Ye is now facing a number of issues releasing new content.

Both Universal and Sony reported that their contracts with Ye have ended and neither seems to have plans to renew.

Without those companies, he must navigate the complex world of publishing — either through a partnership with an independent business partner (which would generate the same public consequences as other companies that have worked with Ye), or he could go it alone and possibly force it him to leave millions of dollars on the table.

“One time he loses [Sony and Universal]no one will raise much money for him or make more money,” Aswad said. “So it’s a huge financial success, and it’s really not that different from Balenciaga stopping by or Vogue saying they’re not working with him anymore or Adidas not working with him anymore.”

After burning bridges within the industry and with many viewers, Aswad said Ye will likely only entertain a dedicated core group of fans — not unlike R. Kelly or R&B singer Chris Brown. who admitted to assaulting singer Rihanna in 2009.

At a time when musicians have an outsized business reliance on live touringObservers said that given his recent comments, Ye is likely to struggle to secure major concert venues.

Combined with business difficulties releasing new music, analysts said Ye’s career is likely to be permanently slowed down by his own actions, a devastation Aswad likened to “watching someone burn down their own house.”

“Although his music has really fallen off in the last five years, there’s no question – no one can touch him,” Aswad said of Ye. “He changed hip-hop. He changed the music. He influenced so much. There’s so much great music he’s made and she has a cloud over it forever.”