More Than 10 Producers on Kanye West’s Vultures Albums Still Haven’t Been Paid

Ye (fka Kanye West) has apparently left more than 10 producers who worked on his albums Vultures 1 and Vultures 2 hung out to dry. According to a Billboard report, several attorneys for those collaborators have teamed up in an effort to get their clients paid.

Vultures 1, the first of West’s collaborative albums with Ty Dolla $ign, has moved 817,000 album equivalent units since dropping in February, but nearly a dozen producers have been unable to secure signed agreements for their work on the album. As a result, they’re missing out on collecting fees or potential producer royalties and publishing income. Billboard reports several Vultures 2 producers are in the same boat.

“We have clients who’ve produced music on the Vultures album(s) and have still not been paid for their services even though both albums have been released,” music attorney Bob Celestin told Billboard. “Presently, we have no idea when payment will be made, which is so unfortunate and unfair. You would think West would be more sensitive to this issue because he is a producer.”

The situation highlights an industry-wide problem in which “nine out of 10 deals, the producer has not been paid the day the music comes out,” Lewis Brisbois partner Jason Berger told Billboard.

Celestin added that sometimes producers don’t get paid for over a year after an album drops due to the high volume of new releases, the long list of collaborators on some projects, and the unpredictability of superstars who have to approve the producer agreements.

In the case of West, he’s reportedly “cycled through at least two attorneys to help with clearances and is now relying on a third,” the lawyers told Billboard. On top of that, he recently changed distributors for his music from Create Music Group’s Label Engine to Too Lost.

And while the Vultures albums are credited to ¥$, West’s group with Ty Dolla $ign, the first installment alone lists upward of 10 total producers on some tracks, including contributions from the likes of Timbaland, Swizz Beatz, James Blake, KAYTRANADA, JPEGMafia, DJ Mustard, and London on da Track.

West’s propensity for abandoning projects and cutting his losses also offers little comfort to the unpaid producers. Earlier this year, he sold a Malibu mansion he stripped down at a loss of roughly $36 million. This came after he was reportedly “dead set” on going into the porn industry — only for the announcement posts to get taken down just weeks later.

Meanwhile, West is reportedly preparing to release Vultures 3, potentially setting up a situation where he has released three albums without secured producer agreements.