Universal pulls song for ‘infringing content’ with AI generated vocals of Drake and Weeknd

An AI-generated song featuring the simulated voices of Drake and The Weeknd has been pulled from streaming services by the Universal Music Group for “infringing content created with generative AI.”

The song went viral over the weekend and by the time it was taken down yesterday afternoon, it had been streamed 600,000 times on Spotify and 15 million views on TikTok and 275,000 times on YouTube.

The song, titled Heart on My Sleeve, was said to have been created using AI programming trained on artist music, something UMG said “represents both a violation of our agreements and a violation of copyright law.”

It has been speculated that the song was a publicity stunt by a startup technology company and was originally posted on TikTok by a user named Ghostwriter977 and shared on streaming platforms under the name Ghostwriter.

The music label told Billboard magazine that the viral posts “demonstrate why platforms have a fundamental legal and ethical responsibility to prevent their services from being used in ways that harm artists.”

An AI-generated song featuring the simulated voices of Drake, 36, and The Weeknd, 33, went viral this weekend, sparking speculation it’s a publicity stunt for a technology startup

Universal Music Group pulled the song from streaming services for “infringing content created with generative AI” (file image)

They added that the episode “begs the question of which side of history all stakeholders in the music ecosystem want to be on: the side of artists, fans and human creative expression, or the side of deep falsifications, fraud and artist denial.” their due compensation.

“We are encouraged by our platform partners’ involvement in these issues – because they recognize that they need to be part of the solution.”

It’s not the first time Canadian rapper Drake has been swept up in the world of AI.

Just last week, he appeared to criticize an AI-generated version of his voice included in a song by New York rapper Ice Spice, writing on Instagram “this is the last straw of AI.”

The latest AI music phenomenon begins with what appears to be Drake in the opening verse, then transitions into a chorus from an AI simulation by The Weeknd.

A number of users speculated as to who might have created the artificial music, including AppSumo’s Mitchell Cohen.

AppSumo’s Mitchell Cohen called the AI ​​track “a genius marketing stunt,” adding, “Not by Drake, but by a SaaS (software as a service) startup.”

Cohen traced the song’s origin to a TikTok account with the @ghostwriter977 handle.

The song went viral over the weekend and by the time it was taken down yesterday afternoon had 15 million views on TikTok and 275,000 on YouTube (file image)

A number of users speculated as to who might have created the artificial music, including AppSumo’s Mitchell Cohen

Cohen pointed to the TikTok account the AI-generated track came from

Cohen noted the reasons why he thought the Canadian music artists were not involved with the track

The account shared an AI version of Drake covering the 2007 Colbie Caillat track Bubbly a few days ago.

The TikTok account says it includes a full version of the track in a link in their biography, which leads to a website asking for personal information in exchange for a full copy of the AI ​​track.

The owner of the website linked to is a startup company called Laylo, which says it’s for creators to gain additional followers and subscribers with their tools, using “drops,” the outlet reported.

While Cohen didn’t specifically point to Laylo for releasing the track, the company itself retweeted its speculative tweets and added a ghost emoji.

The account shared an AI version of Drake covering the 2007 Colbie Caillat track Bubbly a few days ago

The owner of the linked website is a startup company called Laylo