Spotify and Apple Retract AI-Generated Drake Song After Warning of Copyright Infringement

Heart On My Sleeve clones the voices of Drake and The Weeknd. Credit & Copyright: Ollie Millington/WireImage

Spotify and Apple have removed a song that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to imitate Drake and The Weeknd from their streaming services following allegations of copyright infringement.

Heart on up my sleeve, which clones the voices of two top-selling artists, has racked up over 20 million streams on Spotify, TikTok and Twitter in recent days.

The track quickly became an online sensation, but sparked a furious response from the music industry.< /p>

Universal Music Group, the record label representing both artists, said the song is «a violation of our agreements and a violation of copyright law.»

He added that streaming platforms have «legal and ethical responsibilities». so that the use of generative AI does not harm artists.

Spotify and Apple, as well as TikTok and smaller streaming services Deezer and Tidal, have removed the song from their platforms. However, versions of it are still available on YouTube and Twitter.

The two-minute song, created by the artist known as «Ghostwriter», features simulated verses by Drake and The Weeknd that refer to pop star and actress Selena Gomez .

Ghostwriter, who said the song was created by uploading existing songs by artists into AI software, wrote on YouTube: «This is just the beginning.»

Universal, which publishes both artists through its Republic Records label, stated that she always used new technologies. .

But he added: “Generative AI training using the music of our artists (which constitutes both a violation of our agreements and a violation of copyright law), as well as the availability of copyright infringing content created with generative AI on DSP [providers digital services]. , one wonders which side of the story all stakeholders in the music ecosystem want to be on: the side of artists, fans, and human creative expression, or the side of deepfakes, scams, and denying artists proper compensation.

“These cases demonstrate why platforms have a fundamental legal and ethical responsibility to prevent their services from being used in ways that harm artists.”

This is not the first time that nascent AI technology has been used to clone artists. music. Other high-profile examples include Kanye West's version of Adele's «Easy On Me» and a cover version of Beyoncé's song using Rihanna's vocals.

But Drake's fake song is the most successful, so far from copying artists&#39 ; real voices.

The advent of AI poses a major challenge to the music industry as labels grapple with complex copyright issues.

Music companies are concerned about copyright infringement in terms of how the conclusion AI-generated songs and inputting tracks used to train the software in the first place.

Last week, the Financial Times reported that Universal had reached out to streaming services including Spotify and Apple, urging them to ban the services AI extract melodies and lyrics from copyrighted songs.