The distributor FUGA says it is “actively working” with streaming platforms to remove it after not agreeing to release it in the first place
Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign‘s new collaborative album ‘Vultures 1’ may soon be removed from streaming services after not being approved by its distributor.
The album was released to streaming last Saturday (February 10) and serves as the first part of a three-volume project.
However, according to Billboard, the distributor that appears to have delivered the record to the platforms did so without the company being aware of it.
The company in question, FUGA, said: “Late last year, FUGA was presented with the opportunity to release Vultures 1. Exercising our judgment in the ordinary course of business, we declined to do so.”
“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 also reports that several other distributors refused to work with West after his string of allegedly anti-Semitic comments over the past few years.
The album has already run into copyright issues before this. Earlier in the week, the track ‘Good (Don’t Die)’ was removed from Spotify following a complaint over an unauthorised Donna Summer sample by the late singer’s estate.
Shortly after the record was released, Summer’s estate claimed that West had “asked permission” to use Summer’s 1977 classic ‘I Feel Love’ on the track, but said “he was denied”.
The message went on to allege that the artist had “changed the words, had someone re-sing it or used AI” to get the sample on ‘Vultures 1’. They claimed that this still constituted “copyright infringement”.
Back in December, it was also revealed that West had used a Backstreet Boys sample on a ‘Vultures’ track called ‘Everybody’. The song was reportedly not cleared, however, and didn’t end up featuring on ‘Vultures 1’.
Last week, Ozzy Osbourne hit out at Ye over an unauthorised sample of Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’ on the cut ‘Carnival’. The Prince Of Darkness called West “an antisemite” who had “caused untold heartache to many”, adding: “I want no association with this man!”
Ozzy’s wife and manager, Sharon, said the rapper had “fucked with the wrong Jew this time” and claimed that he “represents hate”. It was reported that the Osbournes had sent a cease and desist to West.
The sample was subsequently removed and replaced with a sample of West’s song ‘Hell Of A Life’, which features a legally-cleared sample of ‘Iron Man’. Ye has since responded to Ozzy, claiming that the comments may not have come from the musician himself.
In a two-star review of ‘Vultures 1’, NME said that the collection was “mired in misogyny” and “dogged by degrading lyrics and messy mixes”.
It added: “Such misogyny is hardly new in hip-hop – or either artists’ catalogues or the broader musical landscape in general – but that doesn’t make it any less detestable.”
