Producers who worked on Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures albums have still not been paid, according to reports.
Per Billboard, over 10 producers worked on the project – which spawned albums Vultures 1 and Vultures 2, with third outing Vultures 3 reportedly scheduled for release in the near future – and they have “not been paid for their services even though both albums have been released”, says music attorney Bob Celestin, who represents an unspecified number of producers who worked on the albums.
Brittney Trigg, another lawyer representing a producer who worked on Vultures 1, adds: “We’ve had trouble receiving a producer agreement from Ye.”
Vultures 1 and Vultures 2 were released on 10 February and 3 August, respectively, while the release date for Vultures 3 is currently unknown.
According to five lawyers whose clients worked on Vultures 1, Kanye West has worked with at least two attorneys to help with clearances and issuing royalties to his collaborators.
Per Billboard, some of the producers’ joined forces to issue threatening letters to the distributor of the albums at the time, although West switched distributors before the letters could be sent, and the albums were released independently under Ye’s Yeezy brand.
Lawyer Jason Berger says that in “nine out of 10 deals, the producer has not been paid the day the music comes out”.
Another lawyer whose client worked on Vultures 1 says “we have no recourse besides to try to sue [Kanye West]… but that’s costly.”
