HOLLYWOOD—Can you believe that a song that uses artificial intelligence to clone the voices of Drake and The Weeknd is being removed from streaming service? “Heart On My Sleeve” is no longer available on Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer and Tidal. It’s also in the process of being pulled from TikTok and YouTube, however, some versions are still available. It follows stinging criticism from publishers Universal Music Group which said the song violated copyright law.
The music publisher said platforms had a “legal and ethical responsibility” to prevent the use of services harming artists. The track simulates Drake and The Weeknd trading verses about pop star Selena Gomez, who previously dated the Weeknd. The creator, known as Ghostwriter, claims the song was created by software trained on the musicians voices. Since being posted on a number of platforms last Friday, the track went viral over the weekend.
It was initially removed from Apple, Deezer and Tidal on April 17, before TikTok, Spotify and YouTube were subsequently asked to remove it. A link to an original version of the song on YouTube now says:
”This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Universal Music Group.”
On Spotify, it was streamed 629,439 times before it was pulled. The song has been viewed more than 8.5 million times on TikTok. The track even includes a call-out to producer Metro Boomin, who has worked with artists such as 21 Savage, Future, Nicki Minaj and Kanye West. The song is not perfect, it had a scratchy, low quality vibe of a bootlegged demo; and the vocals are sometimes slurred and glitchy-likely to be artifacts of the AI process. Other faked tracks that have gone viral recently include a “deepfake” of Rihanna singing Beyonce’s “Cuff It.” In addition, to a cloned Kanye West singing the acoustic ballad “Hey There, Delilah.”
At Spotify’s lowest royalty rate of $0.003 per stream, that means it earned about $1,888. Universal Music Group, which publishes both artists through Republic Records, said it has been doing its own innovation around AI for some time. It also stated that the training of AI using artists music (which represents both a breach of our agreements and a violation of copyright law) as well as the availability of infringing content created with generative AI on DSPs.
It begs the question as to which side of history all stakeholders in the music ecosystem want to be on: the side of artists, fans and human creative expression, or on the side of deep fakes, fraud and denying artists their due compensation.
Platforms have a fundamental legal and ethical responsibility to prevent the use of their services in ways that harm artists. We’re encouraged by the engagement of our platform partners on these issues-as they recognize they need to be part of the solution. Neither artist responded to the song yet, but Drake recently expressed displeasure at his voice being clones. He actually posted on Instagram, “This is the final straw AI,” after he came across a fan-made video in which he appeared to be rapping the Ice spice track “Munch (Feeling U).”
While, Drake and The Weeknd, have been dealing with AI, BTS star J-Hope started his military service on April 18, Tax Day in the United States. He is the second member of the popular K-pop band to enlist in the military. Jin was the first to join from the band in December. The rest of the group are expected to enlist in the next few years. The band announced as a hiatus last year to focus on solo projects, with J-Hope recently releasing solo music featuring rapper J Cole.
Rose’s Scoop: Hollywood star Jamie Foxx is still in the hospital, a week after his daughter revealed he had been admitted following a “medical condition.”
