Kanye West’s new collaborative album with Ty Dolla $ign, Vultures 1, may not be available on streaming services for much longer as its distributor is “actively working with its DSP partners and the client to remove Vultures 1 from our systems.”
According to Billboard, Vultures 1 was initially distributed to streaming platforms such as Spotfiy and Apple Music over the weekend by a company called FUGA. The only problem? It was done so without FUGA’s approval.
“Late last year, FUGA was presented with the opportunity to release Vultures 1,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement to Billboard. “Exercising our judgment in the ordinary course of business, we declined to do so.”
However, “on Friday, February 9, 2024, a long-standing FUGA client delivered the album Vultures 1 through the platform’s automated processes, violating our service agreement. Therefore, FUGA is actively working with its DSP partners and the client to remove Vultures 1 from our systems.”
Billboard reports that several other major distributors also passed on working with West for the release of Vulture 1, due to the rapper’s history of antisemitic comments and the lack of promotional support he was receiving from streaming platforms.
It’s unclear how soon Vultures 1 will return to streaming platforms once it’s pulled by FUGA. West is also dealing with legal threats from Ozzy Osbourne and Donna Summer’s estate after he sampled those artists’ music without their permission. Even before FUGA announced its intention to pull the album, Summer’s estate successfully managed to take down a song called “GOOD (DON’T DIE),” which interpolated Summer’s disco classic, “I Feel Love.”