Posted by 
After some arena-scale listening parties in Chicago and on Long Island, Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s album Vultures 1 went live on streaming services Saturday. It might not remain online forever. Turns out the company that’s distributing the album would rather not be.
FUGA, a business-to-business tech and distribution platform for record labels, is listed as Vultures 1’s distributor in YouTube’s content management system. But as Billboard reports, FUGA actually refused to distribute the album when presented with the opportunity last year. “Exercising our judgment in the ordinary course of business, we declined to do so,” the company told Billboard — presumably a reference to the antisemitic rhetoric that made Kanye a pariah in much of public life. FUGA says the album was uploaded to its servers by a longstanding client in violation of their service agreement.
FUGA’s statement to Billboard:
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.
At least on song from the album has already been removed from Spotify for other reasons. “Good (Don’t Die),” which seems to incorporate Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love,” was removed from Spotify Wednesday after a complaint from Summer’s estate. The song is still included on the album on Apple Music and other DSPs. Last week Ozzy Osbourne blasted Kanye for including an unauthorized sample of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” on “Carnival,” but the audio is still up on streaming services as of now.
Meanwhile, it appears Kanye and Ty Dolla $ign will be performing at Rolling Loud California next month in Hollywood.
UPDATE: Vultures 1 has been removed from Apple Music, as Billboard reports. It is no longer present on the Apple Music charts or in the iTunes store, where the song “CARNIVAL” had held the #1 slot on the store’s global chart. “CARNIVAL” has since been added back to Apple, though only as a standalone single.
UPDATE 2: Vultures 1 has been put back on Apple Music.