Kanye West posted photos on Instagram and Twitter of a Youtube browser playing Sufjan Stevens song “Death with Dignity” from his latest album with the caption “Day 3.” However, in taking the photo, several tabs were open on his desktop, including one on the music torrent website The Pirate Bay. Other tabs included a ripper and media downloader necessary for illegally downloading music and full albums from the internet.
Another one of West’s tabs contained another illegal torrent link for a synthesizer software called Serum. These softwares allow artists to remix and create music electronically. The initial retail cost for the software is $200.
Coincidently enough, West’s most recent album The Life of Pablo has been torrented nearly 500,000 times since its released, as well as an entire folder of unreleased music. Only a few weeks ago, West reportedly spoke of suing Pirate Bay due to the massive numbers of illegal downloads. The Life of Pablo was exclusively released on Tidal, an online streaming site which he reportedly co-owns.
This has sparked debate amongst his fans of whether he was illegally pirating Sufjan Steven’s album and possibly remixing Stevens’ music without permission, or doing research for his legal allegations against Pirate Bay. Either way, West has found himself in an unlucky predicament.