Vultures 1: Why Kanye West’s album distributor chose to pull his new record from Apple music

Kanye West’s album Vultures 1 only dropped a week ago and already its distributor has had it pulled from Apple music. Some of the singles seemingly remain, but the record as a whole has been axed, with further rumours Kanye’s distributors are working to have Vultures 1 also removed from all other big streaming platforms – like Spotify. So, what’s going on?

Ok, why has Kanye West’s album Vultures 1 been pulled from Apple music and other platforms?

Well, believe it or not the album hasn’t actually been pulled thanks to its heinous lyrics, though they are markedly offensive; “Keep a few Jews on the staff now”,  “I’m Bill Cosby, b**** (Ha)”, Crazy, bipolar, antisemite / And I’m still the king,” being some of the worst. No, instead Vultures 1 appears to have been pulled off streaming platforms thanks to a rights issue with some of the samples used by Kanye in his new songs.

Spotify, Amazon and Apple music removed Good (Don’t Die) from the album following a complaint from Donna Summer over using her 1977 song I Feel Love. Meanwhile, Kanye has previously been forced to remove a sample from a 1983 Black Sabbath live performance of Iron Man after Ozzy Osbourne hit back at his on social media for using the music without his permission.

“Kanye West… asked permission to use Donna Summer’s song I Feel Love, he was denied… he changed the words, had someone re sing it or used AI but it’s I Feel Love… copyright infringement!!!” Donna’s estate wrote in a social media post. “”he simple thing is, we don’t want to be associated with a hater,” added Sharon Osbourne to Billboard of Ozzy’s refusal to allow Kanye to sample him.

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On Thursday afternoon, Vultures 1 vanished from Apple Music and iTunes altogether after its initial distributor, FUGA, reportedly tried to remove the record from all of its streaming services. However, it soon appeared on the platform Label Engine, which put out two of the album’s pre-release singles. So, it all just felt like one big chaotic mess.

“A long-standing FUGA client delivered the album Vultures 1 through the platform’s automated processes, violating our service agreement,” a spokesperson told Billboard and announced its decision to “remove Vultures 1 from our systems”.

Following the albums removal from Apple Music, Kanye posted an Instagram, which read: “MY IPHONE 15 BE MOVING SLOW AS FUCK” which many fans have read as Ye throwing shade at the company.

Related stories recommended by this writer: 

• The most unforgivably vile lyrics on Kanye West’s new album Vultures 1

• Kanye West accused of ‘humiliation kink’ after more distressing photos of his wife emerge

• Kanye West slammed for ‘dehumanising’ his wife after posting explicit pictures of her online

Featured image credit via Cindy Barrymore/Shutterstock