Photo Credit: Spotify
Yesterday Kanye West’s new album ‘Vultures 1’ with Ty Dolla $ign disappeared from Apple Music after distributor FUGA said the release was unauthorized. The album never left Spotify, Tidal, or Deezer and has appeared elsewhere, including SoundCloud and HiFi streaming service Qobuz.
Later in the evening, the album reappeared on Apple Music. The album is on track to debut at the top of Billboard’s new albums chart, despite the blip yesterday. Apple has not directly addressed the removal of the album, which has already had troubles before release. Nicki Minaj refused to clear a track, Ozzy Osbourne refused to grant permission for a sample, and the Donna Summer estate issued a copyright infringement complaint that saw a track removed from the album.
The backlash to Kanye West and his music has continued after a series of antisemitic remarks the rapper made in 2022. Def Jam dropped the rapper, including his own label G.O.O.D. Music. Talent agency CAA quickly dropped the rapper from representation and from that point, the corporate partnerships became dominoes falling one after another.
Adidas is the biggest partnership that cut ties with Kanye over his remarks, dropping a lucrative $1 billion deal after the rapper said Adidas could not cut him loose no matter what he said. Gap soon followed suit, severing its 10+ year partnership with the rapper, shutting down the Yeezy-GAP website, and removing products from its stores.
Balenciaga also dropped West, while MRC—a film production studio—revealed it had a completed documentary on Kanye West but would not be airing it. Foot Locker and Peloton both made public statements about pulling Yeezy shoes and guided exercise sessions that feature Kanye music.
Digital Music News reported last year in October that Kanye and Ty Dolla $ign were shopping around for a distributor for the album, but didn’t have any immediate takers. So who distributed the album through FUGA to DSPs? The only copyright information shared on the album credits is ‘2024 YZY.’
