A song that uses artificial intelligence to clone the vocals of Drake and The Weeknd has reportedly been removed from streaming services. After going viral on TikTok, Heart on My Sleeve has been pulled from platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and Tidal, the BBC reports.
It is understood the song is also being pulled from TikTok and Youtube. The track purportedly features the two Canadian musicians rapping about singer and actress Selena Gomez.
The song was first posted on TikTok by a user named Ghostwriter977 and shared on streaming services under the artist name Ghostwriter, The Guardian reported. It went viral over the weekend after being shared on several platforms on Friday (April 14).
Apple, Deezer and Tidal removed it from their platforms on Monday, before TikTok, Spotify and YouTube were asked to remove it, though some versions still remain on the video sharing platform. Heart on My Sleeve reportedly racked up more than 600,000 streams on Spotify before it was taken down.
Drake and The Weeknd’s music publishers Universal Music Group have said the AI track violates copyright law, adding that platforms have a “legal and ethical responsibility to prevent the use of their services in ways that harm artists”. Speaking to Billboard, a spokesperson for the label said: “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 [digital service providers], 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.
“We’re encouraged by the engagement of our platform partners on these issues – as they recognise they need to be part of the solution.”
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Drake and The Weeknd are yet responded to the viral track, but this is not the first time the former's voice has been cloned in an AI-generated song. On Friday, the star posted a message to his Instagram story in response to an AI version of US rapper Ice Spice’s song Munch (Feelin’ U) that featured his cloned vocals. “This is the final straw AI,” Drake wrote on Instagram.
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