A song featuring the cloned voices of Drake and The Weeknd – using AI technology – has been removed from various streaming sites.
The song, called Heart On My Sleeve, was created by the artist known as Ghostwriter.
Soon after it was released, the track went viral on TikTok and racked up more than 230,000 plays on YouTube, with more than 625,000 plays on Spotify, according to industry news website Music Business Worldwide.
Despite some versions still available on YouTube, it is no longer available on Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer and Tidal.
When promoting the song on TikTok, the artist said they worked as an actual ghostwriter for years for major music labels, but “got paid next to nothing”.
They went on to write: “The future is here.”
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Although not the first example of AI being used to create songs, the convincing collaboration between Drake and The Weeknd sees them exchange lyrics about popstar and actress Selena Gomez, who previously dated The Weeknd.
In lyrics sung by the fake version of The Weeknd, the creator aims allegations at Gomez, as he sings: “Like Selena baby, I’ma cheat (sic).”
Universal Music Group, which publishes both artists through Republic Records, said it has been “embracing” this new technology for some time, but that songs like Heart On My Sleeve, which uses artists’ vocals and distributes it to digital service providers (DSPs) like Spotify, “represents both a breach of our agreements and a violation of copyright law”.
“The training of generative AI using our artists’ music 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 spokesperson said.
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“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 recognise they need to be part of the solution.”
At the beginning of the month, Universal Music Group sent emails to music streaming services including Spotify and Apple Music warning them that they “will not hesitate to take steps to protect our rights and those of our artists” over the use of AI-generated songs, according to the Financial Times.
Neither artist has responded to the song yet.