A new Drake and The Weeknd collab just dropped. Well, not quiteā¦but an AI-generated song rendered in Drakeās voice featuring another voice that sounds like The Weeknd, called āHeart on My Sleeve,ā dominated the FYP this weekend.
The track, which sounds like a back-and-forth between Drake and The Weeknd about Selena Gomez, The Weekndās ex, was released on TikTok by @ghostwriter977, an anonymous producer wearing a white sheet and sunglasses. The TikTok video racked up more than 10 million views despite scratchy audio and faulty vocals.
But the song was removed yesterday not only from TikTok but also from Spotify and Apple Music, where it had been streaming (less virally) since April 4āostensibly at the request of record label Universal Music Group (UMG), which works with both artists.
Labels want things to go their way
While it may delight the internet, pop-hit-slinging AI is not music to the ears of artists and companies that own the rights to songs. And the threat to their business appears to be growing: AI versions of Rihanna and Eminem have also released unsanctioned tracks in recent weeks.
Though it wouldnāt confirm to Rolling Stone that it was responsible for taking down āHeart on My Sleeve,ā UMG has been taking steps lately to curb the possibility of unauthorized AI jams.
According to the Financial Times, the company recently hit Spotify and Apple Music with requests to stop their users from scraping content to train AI systems.
UMG says AI parroting musical output could constitute copyright infringement and that it is prepared to protect artistsā rights.
Zoom out: āHeart on My Sleeveā may have been scrubbed from major platforms, but AI is recording its debut albumāwhether music industry executives like it or not. And the labels will still have to deal with what AI expert Roberto Nickson called a āmodern Napster moment.āāSK
Listen to the fake song below.
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