A new Drake and The Weeknd collab just dropped. Well, not quite…but an AI-generated song rendered in Drake’s voice featuring another voice that sounds like The Weeknd, called “Heart on My Sleeve,” dominated the FYP this weekend.
The track, which sounds like a back-and-forth between Drake and The Weeknd about Selena Gomez, The Weeknd’s 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 4—ostensibly 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 wouldn’t confirm to Rolling Stone that it was responsible for taking down “Heart on My Sleeve,” 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 artists’ rights.
Zoom out: “Heart on My Sleeve” may have been scrubbed from major platforms, but AI is recording its debut album—whether music industry executives like it or not. And the labels will still have to deal with what AI expert Roberto Nickson called a “modern Napster moment.”—SK
Listen to the fake song below.
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