Viral AI-generated Drake and The Weeknd removed from streaming

18 April, 2023

Universal Music Group have removed an AI-generated collaboration between Drake and The Weeknd from all streaming platforms. Check it out below.

The track was called ‘Heart On My Sleeve’ and was the latest viral song where AI technology was used to mimic the voice and style of popular artists. It was discovered a day after Drake condemned an AI cover of Ice Spice‘s ‘Munch’ in his style of him.

‘Heart On My Sleeve’ blew up in a matter of hours and reached 13 million views on TikTok alone. On popular DSPs like Apple Music, Spotify, and Tidal, the song had hundreds of thousand streams – with over 100,000 views on YouTube before UMG banned the song. However, the song is still doing the rounds on social media.

In a statement, Universal Music explained its stance on the situation saying that the label’s success “has been due, in part, to embracing new technology and enabling it to empower our artists.”

They continued: “With that said, however, the training of generative AI using our 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, 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.”

They ended the statement by telling DSPs they have “a fundamental legal and ethical responsibility” to prevent acts that “harm artists” as well.

Ghostwriter977, the user whose YouTube channel uploaded the original Drake and The Weeknd cover, has been deleted but the track is still discoverable on TikTok and other social media. He hopes that the song has “turn[ed] the industry upside down.”

@ghostwriter977

this song is out everywhere. Iink in bio

♬ Heart on My Sleeve by Ghostwriter out everywhere. – ghostwriter

Other artists have fallen victim to this. Less than a month ago, an AI-generated Kanye West track went viral, while David Guetta said that the “future of music is AI” after showcasing a new song with an AI-generated Eminem verse.

Nick Cave, meanwhile, argued that ” ChatGPT should just fuck off and leave songwriting alone” after a fan wrote to him to share some lyrics generated in his style, made by the AI computer program. “Thanks for the song,” he replied. “But with all the love and respect in the world, this song is bullshit, a grotesque mockery of what it is to be human”.

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