Idea
Y Combinator for music (Kanye's pitch)
Kanye West tweeted that someone should build a Y Combinator for music: standard, transparent, founder-friendly terms for up-and-coming artists instead of the predatory record-label model.
“I want to create Y Combinator for music. So like, the record industry has historically had like very predatory kind of bad deals for musicians and artists. And it's just not right. Like, this— the system is screwed up, and the people who kind of do all the work and create all the value, the creatives, don't go on to sort of own their stuff and build big, big enterprises off this because the way the industry is set up.”
Steal thisBuild an incubator that takes a tiny stake, lets artists own their masters, and uses standardized transparent terms.
Billy
Kanye West called Forbes to demand they call him a billionaire
Shaan's Billy of the Week: Kanye, upset he wasn't on the billionaire list, contacted Forbes claiming he was worth $3 billion and handed over his financials to prove it. Forbes verified he was a billionaire, but at $1 billion, not $3.
“It was Kanye telling Forbes, I'm a billionaire, write about me. And so the article was basically saying Kanye came to us. He was really upset that he was not on the billionaire list or something like that. He tells us he's worth $3 billion. And so, and then he gave us all his financials so that we could verify that he's worth it. They're like, you know, good news, he is a billionaire. Bad news, it's not $3 billion. We think he's worth $1 billion.”
Number
Yeezy did $1.3B in sales; Kanye's 11% royalty paid him $140M
Shaan breaks down the Forbes math: the Yeezy brand, owned 100% by Kanye but produced and distributed by Adidas, did $1.3 billion in sales in 2019, on which Kanye earns an 11% royalty worth $140 million.
$140M
Annual Yeezy royalty income to Kanye · USD/year
“So 2019, he did $1.3 billion in sales on the Yeezy brand, which is kind of insane actually, uh, that a rapper was able to sort of have a Jordan-esque brand there. He gets an 11% royalty, which is $140 million on that. So every pair of Yeezys, he gets 11%. He did $140 million last year.”