Kanye West has back on Instagram after the platform suspended him for violating their terms of use policy. The first order of business for Ye was to let fans know that he owns the rights to the Yeezy name and likeness and that he could continue making new designs right away despite severing ties with Gap and Adidas. He shared a text message between himself and his lawyer.
He also posted a direct message to Ari Emanuel who had written to the Financial Times advising all of Ye’s partners to cut ties which sent off a wave of tie cutting announcements by the top brands he previously had partnerships.
Ye addressed Ari directly via instagram with a “love speech” by saying, “Ari Emanuel I lost 2 billion dollars in one day and i’m still alive. THis is a love speech, I still love you, God still loves you, the money is not who I am, the people is who I am.”
Meanwhile the world’s largest music companies are scrambling to contain the fallout from a furore over Ye’s recent comments. The latest to condemn the rapper’s remarks is Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek who said on Tuesday that West’s recent comments were “awful”, but that his music does not violate the streaming service’s policies. “It’s up to his label, if they want to take action or not,” Ek told Reuters.
Universal Music and Sony Music, West’s longstanding partners, have both denounced his statements, which included a tweet on October 8 stating that he would go “death con 3 on Jewish people”.
So far Adidas, Balenciaga, CAA and Gap have dropped their deals with the Chi Town native.
Earlier this month, the rapper and fashion designer wore a shirt that said “White Lives Matter” and claimed during a recent podcast interview that Jewish people “own the Black voice”.
“There is no place for anti-Semitism in our society. We are deeply committed to combating anti-Semitism and every other form of prejudice,” a spokesperson for Universal told industry trade magazine Billboard while they continue to earn from his music.
Universal owns the copyrights of West’s recordings up to 2016 and distributed his music until last year. It collects royalties when this music is played.
In 2020, West demanded to be let out of his Universal contract in a series of tweets, claiming he “was told to speak with Lucian Grainge [Universal’s CEO] . . . I said I don’t speak with non-billionaire employees”.
Sony’s publishing arm has administered West’s music for years. A spokesperson told the Financial Times that deal expired earlier this year but as part of the contract it will carry on administering the songs — and collecting a fee for doing so — “for a period of time”.
In an internal memo last week, Sony’s management told employees that “we denounce anti-Semitism” and the company was working to “combat prejudice against the Jewish community”.
A spokesperson for Amazon Music declined to comment, but West’s music is still available on the company’s streaming service.
West’s Stem company has also come out and said they wont go ahead with the 10 million dollar partnership.
STEM and KANO have reportedly revealed that they, too, are ending their relationship with West.
They continued, “Instead your money will go to a company that is focused on giving power to artists and the artist in everyone. Power based in truth and unity – not lies and hate. A portion of profits on the new STEM devices will go to the ADL and NAACP.”
