Apple Music is doing what Spotify won't do -- taking a stand against Kanye West. Kanye West continues to face backlash over his comments towards the Jewish community, which resulted in brands like TJ Maxx, Adidas, Balenciaga, and others parting ways from the multi-hyphenate. Now, Apple Music is following suit by reportedly removing his Essentials playlists from their platform. The tech giant hasn't commented on why they've removed the playlist but the reasons appear obvious enough
Earlier this week, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek responded to calls to remove Kanye West's music from the streaming platform. Ek described Ye's anti-semitic comments as "awful," though he didn't think it was the responsibility of Spotify to take down his music. Instead, he believed that Ye's label, Def Jam, would have to make that call.
“It’s really just his music, and his music doesn’t violate our policy,” Ek explained. “It’s up to his label, if they want to take action or not.”
In fact, his label announced this week that Ye is no longer on their label, nor will they be distributing music under the G.O.O.D Music label. Ye's contract with Def Jam expired after Donda but the label continued to work with G.O.O.D. Music throughout 2022 on projects like Pusha T's It's Almost Dry and 070 Shake's You Can't Kill Me.
In addition to Def Jam, the company behind the STEM player that released Donda 2 also cut ties with Yeezy.
“STEM was created and is owned by KANO, the education computer company,” a reported statement reads. “We’ve removed Kanye’s music from our platform, and turned down his $10 million off to buy our technology.”
“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," the statement continues.
