Viral AI-Generated Drake and The Weeknd Song Removed From Streaming Following Universal Music Group Statement
“Heart On My Sleeve” was streamed over 600,000 times on Spotify prior to its removal.
“Heart On My Sleeve,” the viral AI-generated collab between Drake and The Weeknd, has been removed from streaming services after their record label, Universal Music Group (UMG), publicly condemned the use of the technology for “infringing content.”
Although UMG did not confirm whether they sent formal takedown notices to streamers, the label did release a statement to Billboard regarding the use of AI to mimic the vocals of their signees. “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,” a label spokesman said. “We’re encouraged by the engagement of our platform partners on these issues – as they recognize they need to be part of the solution.”
“Heart On My Sleeve” was shared on TikTok by user Ghostwriter977 and was released on streaming services under the artist name Ghostwriter. By the afternoon of April 17, the track had received over 600,000 streams on Spotify and the TikTok videos have been watched over 15 million times.
Drake and The Weeknd’s reps did not share comments regarding the matter.
In case you missed it, UMG also recently called on streaming services to ban AI companies from using copyrighted music.
