Yahoo News AI-Generated Drake and The Weeknd song pulled by streamers
A new row is brewing in the rap world over music generated by artificial intelligence.
Since being posted on a number of platforms last Friday (14 April), a AI-generated track cloning the voices of Drake and The Weeknd has gone viral.
But the track 'Heart On My Sleeve', by creator @ghostwriter, has been pulled from most streaming platforms after Universal Music Group released a statement condemning “infringing content created with generative AI.”
The label, which controls roughly one-third of the global music market wrote in an statement to the Financial Times that it had "become aware that certain AI systems might have been trained on copyrighted content without obtaining the required consents from, or paying compensation to, the rights holders who own or produce the content,".
According to Variety, the group said: "We will not hesitate to take steps to protect our rights and those of our artists."
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The track simulates the two stars rapping about pop star and actress Selena Gomez, who previously dated The Weeknd.
Before it was pulled, the creator, who claims the song was created by software trained on the musician’s voices, had written under the song’s YouTube video: “This is just the beginning”.
The song had been viewed more than 8.5 million times on TikTok and played 254,000 times on Spotify.
Artists against AI
Artists and musicians have also spoken out about the rise of AI-generated music.
Young Guru shared his concerns on Instagram after hearing a Kendrick Lamar song created by AI.
Other recent examples of AI-generated music include:
Rihanna singing Beyoncé's 'Cuff It':
Kanye West singing 'Hey There, Delilah':
Kanye West singing Drake's 'Passionfruit':
Meanwhile, Drake called an AI-generated cover song featuring his voice rapping Ice Spice's 'Munch' the "final straw AI".
The rapper's voice has been mimicked in several AI cover songs including a version of Cardi B's 'WAP' and Bryson Tiller's 'Dont' and 'OMG' by K-Pop group NewJeans.
David Guetta recently used ChatGPT to add a rap from an AI-generated Eminem to a songs. He avoided copyright issues by not releasing the track.
Guetta also talks about how the remix came together through the use of AI-generating websites in the video.
Singer-songwriter Nick Cave has also been vocal about AI-generated songs, and has called AI songwriting “bullshit” and “a grotesque mockery of what it is to be human”.
