Two weeks of controversy has seen the consumption of Kanye West’s music plummet.
According to the latest data from Luminate, Kanye West’s (now going through Ye) albums are down 23% (until October 20, compared to the previous week) and airplay (spins on the radio) are down with the tune of 13% in the US On some stations, such as KIIS-FM in Los Angeles, the rapper’s rotation has fallen to zero in the past week.
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In every category audited, including physical and digital sales, programmed and on-demand streaming, West has suffered some losses domestically.
Globally, West’s revenue is down 17.5% per Luminate, while streams are down 2% through October 20.
So far in 2022, the total on-demand streams of West in the US hover around 3.8 billion; in album sales, it moved a little over 363,000 years ago, with older titles like “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” “College Dropout,” and “Late Registration” showing the most activity.
The rapper’s controversial comments about Jewish people, which led to his Twitter and Instagram accounts being restricted, grew louder between Oct. 6, when he appeared on “Tucker Carlson,” and Oct. 19, when an interview with Piers Morgan. was released in its entirety. But so are calls to boycott the artist and his companies.
After a public plea from WME’s Ari Emanuel published in the TBEN, UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer sent a company-wide memo denouncing anti-Semitism and calling for a boycott of West on Sunday night (October 23), a sentiment shared by Bob Gersh of Gersh Agency. . The next day, CAA confirmed that West was no longer a client, and MRC studio announced it would be putting away a completed documentary about West.
On Sunday, anti-Semitic protesters gathered on a 405 Freeway overpass in LA and put up banners praising West. Also on Sunday, flyers were distributed around Brentwood labeling entertainment managers as ‘Jewish’.
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