Kanye West Wants You to Buy 'Stem Player' for Donda 2 Album, But What Is It?

American rapper Kanye West (now officially Ye) recently announced that his upcoming Donda 2 album will exclusively be available on his ‘Stem Player’. The music player debuted in August 2021 during the launch of his original Donda album and has received mixed reviews (53 ratings) on Metascore. Though Donda is available to stream on popular platforms like Apple Music, Spotify, and more, the new album will only be available on the Stem Player, which costs roughly Rs 15,000 ($200 to be exact). However, the music player is available to purchase in the US and select other countries, and it remains unclear whether Donda 2 will come to fans in India through any of the streaming platforms. The album will debut on February 22.

In a post on Instagram, Kanye (or Ye) explains, “Donda 2 will only be available on my own platform, the Stem Player. Not on Apple Amazon Spotify or YouTube. Today artists get just 12% of the money the industry makes. It’s time to free music from this oppressive system. It’s time to take control and build our own. Go to stemplayer.com now to order."

But What Is a Stem Player?

Also known as Donda Stem Player, the device is essentially a wireless speaker that lets users “customise any song". Apart from the US, the player is available to purchase in the UK, European Union, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. To upload new songs on the device, users will need to connect it to the PC via USB-C cable > head to the Stem Player official site > Upload a link or file > It will start “splitting" the sounds in the process. Users can also connect the Donda Stem Player to a music system via an AUX cable as there’s a 3.5mm audio jack present onboard.

Its official website explains that users can add effects by swiping across the Stem Player and the light indicators will guide them through the process. Once users are happy with the effect, hold the volume up button and four recordings can be saved at a time. The Stem Player also supports music formats such as .FLAC, .AIFF, .AIF, .WAV, .WAVE, .M4A, .MP3, .AAC, .ALAC, and .MP4.

Additionally, the Stem Player will let users control vocals, drums, bass, isolate parts, and more. In a nutshell, the Stem Player will let you remix tracks without software. However, the absence of a screen on the round device could be a bit confusing. The Verge notes the device is developed with an electronics company called Kano.

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