Drake and The Weeknd‘s voices were used on a new AI track over the weekend, and Universal Music Group has now issued a statement on the use of artificial intelligence in music.
A track titled “heart on my sleeve” was posted to YouTube on Friday (April 14) by someone known as ghostwriter. It included the artificial vocals of both the 6 God and XO leader together and was then posted to Apple, Tidal, Deezer and Spotify. The track reportedly racked up over 630,000 listens on the latter.
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Universal Music Group, where both Drizzy and The Weeknd are currently signed, has since taken the track off all the aforementioned platforms, and in a lengthy statement (via Music Week) commented on the rise of “deep fakes” and asked which “side of history” its stakeholders wanted to be on.
“UMG’s success has been, in part, due to embracing new technology and putting it to work for our artists — as we have been doing with our own innovation around AI for some time already,” the statement began.
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“With that said, however, 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, 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.”
The statement continued, “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 recognize they need to be part of the solution.”
This isn’t the first time UMG has expressed displeasure at the use of AI in music. The major label, according to the Financial Times, had already asked major streaming services to block AI platforms from using its music to “train” their technology.
“We have a moral and commercial responsibility to our artists to work to prevent the unauthorized use of their music and to stop platforms from ingesting content that violates the rights of artists and other creators,” a rep for UMG said. “We expect our platform partners will want to prevent their services from being used in ways that harm artists.”
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Whether Drake or The Weeknd have heard the track is unclear, but Drizzy has already expressed his disdain for AI. After an AI-augmented Drake covered Ice Spice’s “Munch (Feelin’ U)” earlier this month, the real Drake said on Instagram that this was “the final straw.”
