Kanye West opens up about the streaming platform troubles with ‘Vultures 1’ (Image via YouTube/Kanye West)

After much anticipation, fanfare, and delays, Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign finally released the first edition of their three-part project, Vultures 1 on Saturday, February 10. However, the album was not originally rolled out on Spotify until later on Saturday.Moreover, the album was even removed from Apple Music hours soon after its release and was again made available on the platform later on Saturday. In a viral clip re-posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) by @kanyestreams1 and YouTube by @AyeYoNino, the rapper was asked about what he thought about streaming platforms taking down his music. He replied:
“We number 1, we number 1 you know. Everything that they did only helped us.”

“I like it. Remove us, I like simplification”: Kanye West on streaming services removing ‘Vultures 1’

Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s much-awaited album, Vultures 1, was finally unveiled on the morning of February 10. However, the 16-track album initially dropped only on Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon Music. The project was notably absent from the biggest music streaming service in the world, Spotify. It was also not available on YouTube Music.

This sent a plethora of Kanye fans who were eager to listen to his much-hyped album into meltdown. Spotify was trending on X, as users expressed their disappointment at not being able to listen to Vultures 1, spurring an array of memes.

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Later, Vultures 1 was released on Spotify on Saturday afternoon and on YouTube Music as well. Ever since the album debuted on Apple Music, it became a massive hit, catapulting it to the number 1 position on both Apple Music and iTunes charts.

However, on Saturday afternoon, the project was inexplicably pulled from Apple Music for a while, before being re-released later. This did temporarily halt the album’s momentum as it fell from the charts, where it had clinched the top spot earlier.

In an interview re-posted on YouTube by @AyeYoNino and X by @kanyestreams1, the rapper was asked about some streaming platforms removing Vultures 1 from their catalog. Kanye West replied:

Kanye West claimed that streaming platforms are “bulls**t” to artists. He further claimed that Spotify would only give $500 million to all artists and even ask them to work it out among themselves. He stated:
“I’m like, What about Adelle? What about Drake? What about Weeknd? What about Taylor Swift? What about me? They like, ‘It doesn’t matter how much any of ya’ll stream, ya’ll gotta work with that half a billion.'”

Kanye asked the question if all these streaming platforms only thought of the artists as being worth half a billion. He claimed to “be here” for all of the artists, his peers, and the people. Kanye added:
“People get in the way, that’s what the market does. They get in the way. Diamonds are infinite but people make a market out of it and try to charge more, they made ‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.'”

He added:
“You see what I’m saying, they make the Twix bigger, they trying to make us fat, you know me.”

As of now, Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 1 is available on YouTube Music, Apple Music, and Spotify. According to the number of plays on Spotify, the most listened-to track from the Album is Talking, featuring Kanye’s daughter North West with over 9 million plays. The music video for Talking was released on YouTube before the album dropped, amassing over 10 million views.