On Saturday night, Kanye West went on a rant about Tim Cook, the iTunes Music Festival, and various other topics during his Yeezus tour stop at Newark’s Prudential Center in New Jersey.
It is clear that West is more than happy to call himself a genius, calling himself the “next Steve Jobs” on multiple occasions. During his rant on Saturday night, he decided to target Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.
West starts by explaining the reason he speaks directly to people like Tim Cook, Google’s Eric Schmidt, and Nike’s Mark Parker is that, “I’ve got a microphone and I can.” (This appears in the video around 12:50.)
Around the 13:55 minute mark in the video West goes all out in his message to Tim Cook, saying:
“Hey, Tim Cook, the Head of Apple, stop trying to get performers to play your festivals for free. You are rich as f***. You’re rich as f***.”
In October 2013 Entertainment Weekly interviewed Apple’s Eddy Cue and asked him why attendees don’t pay for tickets and why artists do not get paid by Apple to perform. Cue explains the reasons in the interview:
The artists come in, and they’re not getting paid. They’re here because they know that this is an opportunity for them to play for these fans and in many cases kind of go back to when they were starting out in a smaller venue, get really close and personal. You’ve got this venue that is truly historic and holds 2,500 people, so you’re gonna see these artists that always play in much larger arenas. [Plus] it’s all kinds of music. On one end, you’ve got Lady Gaga and on the other end you’ve got Ludovico, the Italian pianist.
West continues by telling Tim Cook to stop pretending to be “so down with the culture” and he accuses Cook of acting “so dumb.” West seems to have better thoughts about Google and Eric Schmidt, describing him as “my boy and s***.”
[via CNET]
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“I’m so great, I deserve more awards and more money, whine whine whine” Getting sick of Kanye’s whining.
I don’t know which is worse… Kanye, the deluded tool who can’t sing in tune if his life depended on it… or the tone-deaf, clueless people who pay money to worship the pathetic nimrod.
I take it you’re not a fan?
all apple really has to do is remove his music from iTunes, which is the top music retailer in the US. don’t bite the hand that feeds you, kanye.
He does have a point.
How so? The concert is free for attendees. If Apple was charging $100 a ticket and not paying the artists that would be one thing. Or if the shows were advertisement heavy. From what I’ve watched through the apple TV is is all music and I love getting free content!
You really have no clue huh?
Ya my other typical username was somehow taken! What are the chances. anyway. I’d love to hear you elaborate on how Mr. West has a good point 🙂
Back away from your apple fanboyism for a second and realize how tremendously apple is profiting from this exposure. They should fork out the funds, to charity to the artists.
Basically its pretty lame for you to defend a faceless multinational corporation whose only mission is to extract as much profit from you as they possibly can.
I hear you on the charity side, but no one forces the artists to perform for free, it’s their choice. I’m not blindly apple fanboying, rather anti-Kanye-ing lol
I agree all corporations are just out to make as much profit as possible, but when things like this are free I don’t see your point. I’d be interested to see exactly how much Apple profits from giving away free live concerts. You’ve made the argument of exposure…apple is kinda everywhere, I’m not basing purchasing decisions on free content provided by them. Interesting perspective nonetheless.
Can Kanye just go away already.
Just mad because he wasn’t invited to the festivals. And he should talk about having tons of money. GayFish is so lonely lol
So this guy likes Eric Schmidt and hates Tim Cook. Okaaaay. Has he even seen Eric Schmidt or heard him speak in public?
Glad he could stop singing about how rich and awesome he is long enough to lay out this level-headed and thought provoking criticism. True genius.