Kanye West hasn't been very shy when it comes down to talking about Apple and letting the world know what is on his mind. He recently gave his insights on why Apple bought Beats Electronics, now he's complaining about some of Apple's tactics.
Apple has something it calls the iTunes Festival, it is held annually and is quite popular. The festival is held for a full month, and Apple doesn't charge an admission fee. Furthermore, the company streams the festival to folks who own a Mac, Apple TV, or an iPhone.
Now, according to Kanye West, the artists hired by Apple to perform, are not paid in cash. Instead, Apple pays these men and women with promotional spaces on iTunes. Obviously, Mr. West is against this, and prefers if Apple would pay performers in cash rather than promotion.
"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."
This is a similar tactic used by companies with freelance and amateur photographers. Companies in many occasions might use the work of a photographer, and instead of paying them, they are told they would get increased exposure.
Despite what Mr. West has to say, many artists view having a prominent placement on iTunes as a big deal. However, how long will this continue when iTunes sales are falling as music lovers slowly make the switch to streaming music instead of purchasing individual songs or the whole album?
It is one of the reasons why Apple purchased Beats Electronics, because, with it, the company will have access to the rapidly growing Beats Music, which is a subscription music streaming service. So far, over 250,000 folks have subscribed to Beats Music, though that number pales in comparison to the millions subscribed to the likes of Spotify, Google Music and Xbox Music.
