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A song featuring AI-generated vocals purporting to be Drake and the Weeknd has been pulled from streaming services by Universal Music Group (UMG) after going viral over the weekend. The label condemned the song, called Heart on My Sleeve, for “infringing content created with generative AI”.
The track was originally posted on TikTok by a user called Ghostwriter977 and shared on streaming services under the artist name Ghostwriter. By the time it was removed yesterday afternoon US time (17 April), it had racked up 600,000 Spotify streams, 15m TikTok views, and 275,000 YouTube views.
Drake’s complaint came after Universal Music Group wrote to streaming services including Spotify and Apple Music, asking them to prevent artificial intelligence companies from accessing their libraries.
It is thought companies have been using music to “train” their software.
“We will not hesitate to take steps to protect our rights and those of our artists,” UMG warned in the email, first obtained by the Financial Times.
Several websites already offer fans the ability to create new songs using the soundalike voices of pop’s biggest stars.
UMG told Billboard magazine that the viral postings “demonstrate why platforms have a fundamental legal and ethical responsibility to prevent the use of their services in ways that harm artists”.
The creator, known as @ghostwriter, claims the song was created by software trained on the musician’s voices.
“This is just the beginning,” they wrote under the song’s YouTube video.
“We really are in a new era,” responded one listener in the comments. “Can’t even tell what’s legit or fake anymore.”
“This is the 1st example of AI-generated music that really wowed me,” added Mckay Wrigley, an AI developer, on Twitter.
The music industry is beginning to mobilize against the perceived threat of fake songs. In October, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) warned that AI companies were violating copyrights en masse by using music to train their machines.
“That use is unauthorized and infringes our members’ rights by making unauthorized copies of our members’ works.”
Last month, the Entertainment Industry Coalition published a series of seven core principles regarding the relationship between artificial intelligence and music, detailing the need for AI to “empower human expression” while also asserting the importance of representing “creators’ interests in policymaking.
It is Drake’s second scuffle with an AI-generated song this week. On Friday, the Canadian rapper addressed a version of breakout US rapper Ice Spice’s song Munch that featured a fake verse by him. This is the final straw AI, he wrote in an Instagram story. An AI version of his voice has also recently been added to Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s WAP and Don’t by rapper and songwriter Bryson Tiller.
“UMG’s success has been, in part, due to embracing new technology and putting it to work for our artists–as we have been doing with our own innovation around AI for some time already. 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.”
James Murtagh-Hopkins, senior vice president of communications at Universal Music Group, said,
“These instances demonstrate why 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.”
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