{"id":412402,"date":"2022-03-04T23:06:43","date_gmt":"2022-03-04T20:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/could-kanye-wests-stem-player-actually-empower-artists\/"},"modified":"2022-03-04T23:06:43","modified_gmt":"2022-03-04T20:06:43","slug":"could-kanye-wests-stem-player-actually-empower-artists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/could-kanye-wests-stem-player-actually-empower-artists\/","title":{"rendered":"#Could Kanye West\u2019s Stem Player actually empower artists?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2809a544576\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg 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class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/could-kanye-wests-stem-player-actually-empower-artists\/#%E2%80%9CCould_Kanye_Wests_Stem_Player_actually_empower_artists%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Could Kanye West\u2019s Stem Player actually empower artists?&#8221;<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/could-kanye-wests-stem-player-actually-empower-artists\/#Tristan_Perich_has_been_releasing_hardware_creations_that_double_as_albums_for_years_and_hes_curious_to_see_what_Donda_2_could_lead_to\" >Tristan Perich has been releasing hardware creations that double as albums for years, and he\u2019s curious to see what Donda 2 could lead to.<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CCould_Kanye_Wests_Stem_Player_actually_empower_artists%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Could Kanye West\u2019s Stem Player actually empower artists?&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<h2 class=\"deck\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Tristan_Perich_has_been_releasing_hardware_creations_that_double_as_albums_for_years_and_hes_curious_to_see_what_Donda_2_could_lead_to\"><\/span>Tristan Perich has been releasing hardware creations that double as albums for years, and he\u2019s curious to see what <i>Donda 2<\/i> could lead to.<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"content_blocks\">\n<style>\n<\/style>\n<div id=\"content_block-229816\" class=\"content_block breaker triple_gutter_right triple_gutter_left image\">\n<div class=\"media_wrapper\">\n<p>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_1440,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-1366399225_1_fkn3ci\/kanye-west-photo-by-pascal-le-segretain-getty-images.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_220,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-1366399225_1_fkn3ci\/kanye-west-photo-by-pascal-le-segretain-getty-images.jpg 220w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_300,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-1366399225_1_fkn3ci\/kanye-west-photo-by-pascal-le-segretain-getty-images.jpg 300w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_400,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-1366399225_1_fkn3ci\/kanye-west-photo-by-pascal-le-segretain-getty-images.jpg 400w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_600,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-1366399225_1_fkn3ci\/kanye-west-photo-by-pascal-le-segretain-getty-images.jpg 600w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_750,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-1366399225_1_fkn3ci\/kanye-west-photo-by-pascal-le-segretain-getty-images.jpg 750w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_840,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-1366399225_1_fkn3ci\/kanye-west-photo-by-pascal-le-segretain-getty-images.jpg 840w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_960,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-1366399225_1_fkn3ci\/kanye-west-photo-by-pascal-le-segretain-getty-images.jpg 960w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_1260,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-1366399225_1_fkn3ci\/kanye-west-photo-by-pascal-le-segretain-getty-images.jpg 1260w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_1800,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-1366399225_1_fkn3ci\/kanye-west-photo-by-pascal-le-segretain-getty-images.jpg 1800w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_2400,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-1366399225_1_fkn3ci\/kanye-west-photo-by-pascal-le-segretain-getty-images.jpg 2400w,\" sizes=\"100vw\" alt=\"Could Kanye West\u2019s Stem Player actually empower artists? \"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"img_caption\"><\/p>\n<p>    <span class=\"caption\"><br \/>\n      Kanye West. Photo by Pascal Le Segretain\/Getty Images<br \/>\n    <\/span><\/p>\n<p>  <span class=\"credit\"><br \/>\n      \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n<\/style>\n<div id=\"content_block-229813\" class=\"content_block paragraph text triple_gutter_right triple_gutter_left center_align\">\n<div class=\"content_inner_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"paragraph_wrapper center_align\">\n<p>            If <i>Donda<\/i> represented Kanye West leaving conventional albums in the dust, <i>Donda 2<\/i> was him stomping on their remains in his rubber boots. West shook the music industry when he revealed that <i>Donda 2<\/i> would only be released on his Stem Player, a proprietary device capable of isolating different musical elements of songs uploaded into it, available on his website for $200. \u201cToday artists get just 12% of the money the industry makes,\u201d <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CaGuRhADEib\/\">West wrote in his announcement<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s time to free music from this oppressive system.\u201d West\u2019s attachment to populist politics makes it wise to question the sincerity of his altruism, but it would be foolish to question his ambition. That begs the question: Could the Stem Player end up empowering artists with smaller profiles than Kanye West\u2019s?<\/p>\n<div class=\"\" style=\"padding-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; text-align: left;\">\n<\/div>\n<p>            Tristan Perich is someone who\u2019s interested to see how it plays out. Perich is a musician, a graduate of Columbia University in music, math, and computer <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">science<\/a>, and the co-founder, along with Lesley Flanigan, of Physical Editions, a label specializing in releasing music as expressive hardware. His first \u201ccircuit album,\u201d 2004\u2019s <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XZEXX9Yezjw\"><i>1-Bit Music<\/i><\/a>, used a microchip to create intense, chiptune-adjacent melodies with the flip of the switch. Its 2009 follow-up <i>1-Bit Symphony<\/i> built on the same hardware principles and added an expansiveness suggested by the title (both projects were initially released via Cantaloupe Music and later re-released on Physical Editions). <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/210065550\"><i>Noise Patterns<\/i><\/a>, shared in 2016, was a circuit board presented as a matte-black square reminiscent of a floppy disk, and offered hazy, percussive electronic rhythms fitting for its <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>earance. Grayson Haver Currin, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pitchfork.com\/reviews\/albums\/22130-noise-patterns\/\">reviewing <i>Noise Patterns<\/i> for Pitchfork<\/a>, praised how Perich \u201cused very small objects to pose very big questions about art, how it\u2019s made, and how it\u2019s perceived.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Over the phone, Perich stresses that the $30 devices are not playing pre-recorded music, but creating it. \u201c<i>1-Bit Music<\/i> was when I first had the idea that the album could be a piece of hardware that contained the music, but more importantly, it is the music,\u201d he says. \u201cIt&#8217;s actually synthesizing the sound in real-time as you&#8217;re listening to it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>            The devices created by Physical Editions may not appear to have much in common with the Stem Player \u2013 it\u2019s basically a mixing board for digital copies of songs \u2013 but its capacity for engaging the listeners in new ways makes the device, at least philosophically, a distant relative to Perich\u2019s creations. By barring <i>Donda 2<\/i> from streaming, West made any engagement with the music (such as, say, a SoundCloud playlist of pirated Donda 2 songs) feel, at best, incomplete. The biggest accomplishment of <i>Donda 2<\/i> and the Stem Player goes beyond album sales or even the music itself: it has brought the question of redefining how an album is consumed, something Physical Editions has worked on for over a decade, to a wide audience. <\/p>\n<div class=\"\" style=\"padding-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; text-align: left;\">\n<\/div>\n<p>            To state the obvious, it\u2019s near impossible for most musicians to have an album release as vast as that of <i>Donda 2<\/i> and the Stem Player. Logistically and financially, most artists can\u2019t design and manufacture tens of thousands of copies of a high-tech, custom-made device. In Perich\u2019s case, the kind of music he creates aligns with the manageable manufacturing costs of the Physical Editions hardware. \u201cI happen to work with very, very primitive electronics,\u201d Perich says. \u201cI don&#8217;t need a lot of the components that go into a normal music player.\u201d That means you probably won\u2019t hear your favorite chart-toppers performed in real-time on devices like the ones made by Physical Editions anytime soon.<\/p>\n<p>            Still, the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/mrcdatareports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/MRC_YEAREND_2021_US_FNL.pdf\">MRC\u2019s 2021 Year-End Data Report<\/a> paints the picture of a favorable climate to restart the conversation of redefining what albums can be. Album sales in the United States rose by 11% in 2021 for the first time in nearly a decade, partially driven by a resurgence in the physical format. Vinyl sales jumped over 50% and purchases of CDs were up for the first time since 2004, with the still-dominant streaming realm posting a 10% increase in streams of albums. The stats combine to a not-insignificant data point suggesting that the annual proclamations of the album\u2019s demise may have been premature as well as the potential for a consumer base interested in trying different things. <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"content_block paragraph triple_gutter_right triple_gutter_left\">\n<div class=\"content_inner_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"\" style=\"padding-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; text-align: left;\">\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<style>\n<\/style>\n<div id=\"content_block-229815\" class=\"content_block breaker triple_gutter_right triple_gutter_left pull_quote\">\n<div class=\"media_wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"pull_quote\"><p>&#8220;I like the idea of inviting people into that creative process because it breaks down this conception of music that\u2019s this polished end product that you play on Spotify or whatever.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n<\/style>\n<div id=\"content_block-229814\" class=\"content_block paragraph text triple_gutter_right triple_gutter_left center_align\">\n<div class=\"content_inner_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"paragraph_wrapper center_align\">\n<p>            Just after releasing <i>The Life of Pablo<\/i> in 2016, West tweeted that the album \u201cis a living breathing changing creative expression\u201d before making several substantial changes to the music \u2014 and becoming the first pop superstar to do so. West would also take a scalpel to his 2020 album <i>Donda<\/i> after its release, fileting features and tweaking different musical elements. <i>Donda 2<\/i> leans heavily into this mutable view of music \u2013 most of West&#8217;s verses are unfinished \u2013 while merging it with language of tech: the version of the album released just after the Miami concert is dubbed \u201cV2.22.22 Miami.\u201d This approach resonates with Perich, who hopes it could lead to a different kind of music listener. \u201cI like the idea of inviting people into that creative process,\u201d Perich says, \u201cbecause it breaks down this conception of music that&#8217;s this polished end product that you play on Spotify or whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>            Having said that, Perich is keen to give listeners the option to hear his music any way they can. Unlike <i>Donda 2<\/i>, each of the Physical Editions releases are available on the big streaming platforms. \u201cI don&#8217;t want to tell people how to listen to the music,\u201d Perich says. \u201cAlternatives are empowering, but I also think that streaming music is here to stay. I&#8217;d rather see a viable competitor to the big streaming services because I feel like there&#8217;s a lot of room for innovation there, and a lot to be done.\u201d It\u2019s less a contradiction than a hopeful gesture, meeting unfamiliar listeners where they are in the hopes that they may eventually embrace the \u201cmore meaningful\u201d embodiment of his work.<\/p>\n<div class=\"\" style=\"padding-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; text-align: left;\">\n<\/div>\n<p>            The biggest threat to the Stem Player could be, perhaps unsurprisingly, Kanye West. His initial statement painting the device as nothing less than a revolution was straight from the handbook of his idol Steve Jobs, and it\u2019s something Perich has seen before. \u201cIf you think too much about a new format or whatever that you&#8217;re creating, you&#8217;re probably over-controlling it,\u201d he says. The rewarding part, he says, begins when creators and consumers let go of their preconceived notions. \u201cI don&#8217;t think anybody should be surprised if it performs differently,\u201d he says. \u201cHopefully, people find other uses for it that weren&#8217;t even intentional. The best new <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a> formats are ones that people can do things that were unexpected with.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>            If expectations aren\u2019t properly managed and a device\u2019s ultimate function is viewed with rigidity, Perich says that can extinguish potentially exciting futures. \u201cI went to a grad school program that was originally about exploring <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a> as a medium,\u201d he says, \u201cand too often there&#8217;s this expectation that you might&#8217;ve stumbled upon the next best thing. I think that takes away from a lot of the creative exploration of it, and when something is set up to have to succeed to exist, and when it fails, it fails completely, and you don&#8217;t have any of that left over.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>            It\u2019s far too early to determine what the Stem Player\u2019s impact will be, though even if it doesn\u2019t end up changing the music industry or empowering its musicians, it could still have a vital, yet unrealized function that shifts things in a positive direction. For Perich and Physical Editions, curiosity is what matters the most. \u201cThere&#8217;s a playfulness when thinking about hardware, and thinking about how we listen to music,&#8221; he says of his label. \u201cThat leads to us thinking about what music is. It doesn&#8217;t need to just be a linear thing that has a start point and an endpoint like a normal recording.\u201d <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"author\">\n    <span><br \/>\n      By <span class=\"credit_name\">Jordan Darville<\/span><br \/>\n  <\/span><\/div>\n<p><script async defer src=\"https:\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thefader.com\/2022\/03\/04\/kanye-west-stem-player-empower-artists-tristan-perich\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Could Kanye West\u2019s Stem Player actually empower artists?&#8221; Tristan Perich has been releasing hardware creations that double as albums for years, and he\u2019s curious to see what Donda 2 could lead to. Kanye West. Photo by Pascal Le Segretain\/Getty Images \u00a0 If Donda represented Kanye West leaving conventional albums in the dust, Donda 2 was&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":412403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/c_limit,w_1024\/c_crop,h_533,w_1024,x_0,y_148,f_auto,q_auto:eco\/GettyImages-1366399225_1_ewtxtl\/GettyImages-1366399225_1_ewtxtl.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[70532,70618,4965],"class_list":["post-412402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-hip-hop","tag-kanye-west","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}