Kanye West wants to put himself first in line to bring about death to the CD, promising that future releases will only be offered through streaming.
For those of us who grew up before the 2000s, there’s still an air of magic to the humble optical disc; it’s one of the formative reminders of the physical experience of music and, furthermore, still far cheaper than buying vinyl. Kanye West, however, has decided he’s had just about enough of that.
The infamous rapper, who earlier this year made news for asking Facbook founder Mark Zuckerberg for $1 billion USD, has decided that future albums will only be available through streaming platforms.
Unlike other artists who either employ a mixture of physical releases and the usage of streaming platforms to market their music, Kanye West has promised his fans another album later this year, tweeting that he is thinking of never producing another CD again.
I was thinking about not making CDs ever again… Only streaming
“” KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) March 7, 2016
We haven’t yet seen a CD release of West’s last album, the Life of Pablo, which was launched exclusively on Tidal. West tweeted openly that “The Yeezus album packaging was an open casket to CDs r.i.p”.
Previously, West has openly supported Tidal and launched scathing attacks on music piracy, before being found to have hypocritically browsed The Pirate Bay to download Xfer Records Serum music editing software.
Could this be the a new indication that CDs are on their way out? While Kanye West certainly has both his critics and his fans, the artist could be the first high-profile performer to abandon producing CDs altogether, should he keep his word.
What are your thoughts? Could the age of CDs finally be at an end? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!
Follow Bryan Smith on Twitter: @bryansmithSA
