After going viral in a matter of hours, the song ‘Heart On My Sleeve’ has been pulled from major streaming platforms including Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer and Tidal. It is also in the process of being removed from TikTok and YouTube, although some versions are still available. The move follows a complaint from Universal Music Group, which claimed the song violated copyright law. The record company stated that the platforms had a “legal and ethical responsibility” to avoid the use of services that harm artists.
The song simulates Drake and The Weeknd exchanging verses about pop star and actress Selena Gomez, The Weeknd’s former partner. The song’s creator, known as @ghostwriter, claims the song was created using intelligent software trained on the two artists’ voices. Pirates no longer distribute other people’s songs through the network: now they impersonate their voices thanks to artificial intelligence and create original (or at least new) music.
After being posted on various platforms last Friday, the song went viral over the weekend. It was initially removed from Apple, Deezer, and Tidal on Monday afternoon, before TikTok, Spotify, and YouTube received removal requests. On Spotify, the song was played 629,439 times before it was removed. It should be remembered that at the very least, Spotify pays $0.003 per playback, which means that he earned around $1,888 (€1,700).
Universal Music already warned last week that it would be ruthless with streaming platforms that distribute music created on the basis of works of art to which they own the rights. The record label suspects that certain AI systems “could have been trained on copyrighted content” without obtaining the necessary consents and without paying financial compensation to the creators of such works. And this case seems to prove them right, although some voices on the internet suggest – without providing evidence – that it could all be a marketing campaign.
The label, which publishes both artists through Republic Records, raised the question of which side of the story everyone interested in the music ecosystem wants to be on: the side of artists, fans, and human creative expression or the side of deep fakes, fraud and the denial of compensation due to artists?”.
An intellectual property (IP) lawyer explained to the BBC that copyright law and artificial intelligence were not a simple subject. RPC’s Jani Ihalainen said UK copyright law gives artists certain rights over their performances, including making copies of recordings of specific performances. “However, a fake voice that doesn’t specifically copy a performance probably won’t be covered and could even be considered a copyrighted work in its own right,” she added.
Tony Rigg, professor of music industry management at the University of Central Lancashire and a music industry adviser, said it would take time to resolve these issues. “Perhaps the most worrying aspect of this case is the violation of moral rights,” he said. “If someone can imitate your brand, sound and style, that could be very problematic. It will be the law that provides a remedy.”