Exclusive: Kanye West’s Bold Album Vultures 1 Pulled from Apple Music Over Copyright Clash – Find Out Why!
Apple Music swiftly pulled Kanye West Vultures 1 album just five days after its debut on the platform after being hit by copyright infringement issues. On Thursday afternoon, the album – which his daughter North posted about in a now-deleted TikTok – was removed from Apple Music and iTunes, where the song Carnival had held the No. 1 slot on the Top 100: Global chart.
The move comes amid reports the Vultures 1 distributor is working to remove it from all streaming services after Kanye reportedly uploaded it to various platforms without permission, according to Billboard. The album was first hit with streaming issues on Wednesday, when Spotify removed the track Good (Don’t Die) due to claims of ‘copyright infringement’ made by Donna Summer’s estate.
The distributor, FUGA, said in a statement today: ‘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.’
As of now, the album continues to be accessible on Spotify; however, the track Good (Don’t Die) is currently unplayable on the platform.
Vultures Volume 1 marks the initial installment in a planned trilogy. Following this, the second and third projects are scheduled for release in March and April, respectively.
Last week, Ye posted on Instagram, hinting at a special event set for Thursday at the United Center. The event turned out to be another album listening party. However, it was marred by controversy when the musician rapped about anti-Semitism, leading to the abrupt termination of the live stream broadcasting the affair.
The drama began after the British rock star said he wants ‘no association’ with West, who has a long history of making antisemitic comments, following a listening party for the rapper’s upcoming Vultures album, which features a snippet of Ozzy’s band’s hit War Pigs.
The reports also come after the rapper updated Vultures Volume 1 album cover by swapping out the Friday The 13th-inspired mask for a black face covering.
Sharon Osbourne joined her husband Ozzy Osbourne in calling out Kanye for using an unauthorized sample of a Black Sabbath song on Friday.
Sharon, whose father Don Arden was Jewish, said that the couple fired off a cease and desist to Kanye, per her interview with TMZ on Friday.
Sharon also tagged Kanye’s wife Bianca Censori in her social media posts, further escalating the feud between the two camps. The drama reached a peak when Ozzy took to Twitter and denounced Kanye for his anti-Semitic comments and use of unauthorized samples.
After that lyric, the feed on streaming service Veeps cut to black and went silent as the star was apparently censored. West has a documented history of anti-Semitism and last year lost out on a number of partnership deals after going on an explosive anti-Semitic rant.
His title track Vultures also included the vile lyric: ‘How am I anti-Semitic? I just f****d a Jewish b***h.’ The lyrics prompted a furious backlash among some fans and was even condemned by the American Jewish Committee, among others.
