Kanye files trademark for ‘Yeezy Sound,’ is he starting new streaming service?
Kanye West may be trying to start his own streaming service according to documents obtained by The Blast.
According to the Blast, Kanye has filed for trademark of “Yeezy Sound,”
“The Blast obtained documents filed this month by Kanye’s reps to trademark ‘Yeezy Sound’ for purposes that include ‘Streaming of music, audio, images, video and other multimedia content over the internet.'”
This news comes amidst increasing tensions between Kanye and his former mentor and friend Jay-Z. Earlier this summer, Kanye pulled his discography from Jay’s streaming service Tidal and Ye’s legal reps sent a letter to Tidal claiming breach of contract.
“Our sources say a month ago Kanye’s lawyer sent a letter to Tidal, saying the company was in breach and the contract was terminated. Over the next 2 weeks lawyers for both sides tried to resolve the conflict but failed. We’re told 2 weeks ago Kanye’s lawyer fired off a second letter declaring again the contract was over.”
TMZ reported that Kanye hadn’t been compensated for bringing new users over to Tidal when his The Life of Pablo album dropped and that the streaming service hadn’t paid him back for music videos.
From TMZ,
“We’re told Kanye’s beef with Tidal is twofold — his The Life of Pablo album resulted in 1 1/2 million new subscribers to Tidal, for which he was supposed to get a bonus but the company hasn’t paid. Kanye also says Tidal reneged on reimbursing him for music videos.”
It’s unfortunate to see Kanye and Jay-Z feuding like this, Jay went at Kanye on multiple tracks on his 4:44 album. Perhaps Kanye wanting his own streaming service goes deeper than his beef with Jay, but the optics speak for themselves.
I’m not sure we need another boutique streaming service and few, if any of them, are profitable whatsoever. Kanye, who has been outspoken about his massive debt, may be making an unsound financial decision by going into streaming, but of course ‘Yeezy Sound’ will definitely be wavy.