(April 20, 2023). Even the most casual of contemporary music fans know that Drake—the highly popular rapper out of Toronto—has been one of the two biggest artists on the planet over the last 15 years, rivaled only in Billboard chart dominance by Taylor Swift.
It’s therefore understandable that his is a brand that both he and his record label want to protect at all costs.
So when an anonymous TikTok creator who goes by the name Ghostwriter977 posted a new (original) song created by artificial intelligence called “Heart On My Sleeve” with vocals bearing the likeness of Drake and fellow Toronto superstar The Weeknd a week ago—and the song went viral on TikTok and several streaming platforms—Drake, his record label and the industry took notice.
For those readers who don’t know how AI works, it’s simple (and downright scary): anyone with access to the appropriate generative technology (usually through an app available on one’s smart device or other computer software) can, with a few simple instructions and the press of a button, create a whole new piece of art or set of actions meant to replicate the likeness of another person.
The machine or software is “trained” to learn how a person looks, moves and sounds by ingesting millions of bits of existing data and then creating new images, documents or other works using the person’s likeness.
It can be in the form of a video (think about the AI-generated images of Donald Trump aggressively resisting being arrested a week before his actual peaceful arraignment took place), a piece of written work (people have used AI to generate responses to companies’ requests for proposal…as a more legitimate example), or in this case an original piece of music.
The word “original” is key here because TikTok user Ghostwriter977 didn’t use AI to create a remake or cover of a preexisting song by Drake or The Weeknd. He used it to create a brand new song, one with a trap beat and a new, machine-generated ominous piano melody and vocals that would make any listener think it was the latest track by the Canadian duo (they’ve never teamed up on a song before, so this would’ve been huge if it were real).
What’s scary for the industry is that the song “Heart On My Sleeve,” which has since been removed from TikTok and from streaming platforms like Spotify, SoundCloud, and YouTube (although I did find this version below), was streamed over a million times in just a few days.
Even worse for Drake and The Weeknd, people liked it.
Several YouTube and other commenters called the track “slamming” and said it was better than much of the authentic material Drake has put out recently (he’s released three albums in less than two years, to mixed reviews).
“Heart On My Sleeve” came at a time when Drake’s own new official single, “Search & Rescue,” which also uses an ominous piano melody with a standard trap beat (and a trolling Kim Kardashian sample to boot) had to settle for a No. 2 début on the Billboard Hot 100 (behind Morgan Wallen’s nearly three-month-old “Last Night”), something that had to be a disappointment for an artist that’s used to having No. 1s and is keenly aware of his chart standings.
Any speculation that “Heart On My Sleeve” caused confusion about which song was Drake’s latest and that it cut into the streaming potential for “Search & Rescue” can be put to bed by the fact that “Heart” didn’t hit TikTok until a week after “Search” so the official single’s first-week results were already in by the time “Heart” began going viral.
Also, Ghostwriter, whose name is based on the claim that he’s ghostwritten several tracks for big name rappers in the past without proper recognition or compensation, made no bones that “Heart” was by him, with no mention of Drake or The Weeknd in the song’s credits or lyrics.
But there was no mistaking whose sounds he was trying to emulate, and the industry rallied around Drake’s (and The Weeknd’s) cause. Within four days of the fake song’s debut, it was gone from most streaming and video platforms.
Several possible reasons were given for its removal—all legal in basis—including that the song infringed on the artists’ “right of publicity,” that is, the right to control how their likeness is exploited by others. In this case, that likeness is the artists’ voices and well-known cadences.
Another reason given by YouTube was that “Heart” used a popular vocal tagline by super producer Metro Boomin’ and did so without his permission. That is quite possibly the only copyright infringement claim that could be made given that the AI song is a new composition and not a replica of any track Drake, The Weeknd or Metro Boomin’ had made previously.
There are entertainment lawyers with proven track records whose sole reason for being is to seek out and get compensation for any attempts to infringe on the copyrights or other protections their clients may have, whether it’s committed by another legitimate artist or in this case by a TikTok user playing with his latest hi-tech toy.
One only has to type Marvin Gaye’s name in a search engine to find at least two high-profile cases of copyright infringement committed by other artists (Robin Thicke and, allegedly, Ed Sheeran) using much older technology. Even Drake, ironically, has been sued for allegedly borrowing other artist’s material without permission (he’s also been accused of benefitting from ghostwriters in the past).
I’m sure those highly capable lawyers will figure out a way to keep this kind of exploitation in check…at least for now.
But it’s clear that AI technology now has the larger industry on edge, especially given the legal quagmire record companies may face in trying to fight it.
A song creator could be smarter than Ghostwriter in the future, for example, and not include a copyright protected tagline or other specific cadence, and avoid legal action altogether, or at least present a bigger challenge for an artist or label to prove an infringement claim.
There’s also the issue of how such products would be tracked on Billboard’s charts—or if their policies would even allow it.
Fortunately for the trade publication, it avoided having to make a decision for “Heart” as the fake Drake tune didn’t have time to accumulate enough sales and streaming (or radio play) before it was pulled. Its first chart eligibility would have been for the week ending April 29 (the tracking window for which ends tonight, April 20).
My guess is that any chart entries for “Heart On My Sleeve,” if allowed, would have been credited to Ghostwriter. Let the record show that all of the previous Billboard chart entries for the punching bag duo of Milli Vanilli remain intact more than 32 years after their scam was revealed. And several studio creations, like the fictional band The Archies, the disco group Silver Convention, and others, have topped the charts without really “existing.”
Then there’s the issue of artist compensation for the streaming and YouTube views the song did generate in its short time on those platforms.
According to an April 19 Billboard article, the 1.4 million U.S. streams “Heart On My Sleeve” generated between Friday April 14 and Monday April 17 were worth about $7,500, with global streaming numbers (2.125 million) increasing the value to $9,400.
Without any official label affiliation, much of that money would likely be owed to Ghostwriter himself. Just imagine if the song had been allowed to remain on those platforms and continued to exponentially increase its consumption, as it was doing before it got pulled.
But since Spotify pays royalties on a monthly basis, which allows the platform time to detect any copyright infringement or other system-gaming attempts, it likely will withhold any payment to Ghostwriter until all potential legal issues are resolved.
Which brings me to the final question about all of this, which I haven’t seen asked elsewhere.
What are Ghostwriter’s protections in this matter? What if he prevails after any challenges by the artists or labels he’s likely to face if he continues to do this (he’s vowed that he’s “just getting started”).
Are the AI creations he’s made, which bare the likeness of other artists’ voices but which include original music and lyrics, eligible for copyright protection themselves?
This could be an issue if, for example, Drake and The Weeknd ever decided to “reclaim their art and their likeness” by recording a duet in the style of “Heart On My Sleeve,” if for no other reason than the song’s positive reception by fans.
It would be interesting to know whether Ghostwriter has filed a copyright application for “Heart On My Sleeve” or even secured a lawyer to represent his own interests in this matter.
Either way, the ability to use AI to create a new song that sounded so much like two of the world’s biggest music superstars—and then have that song go viral— was clearly a wake-up call, not only for the music industry, but for anyone not fully appreciating the limits—or lack thereof—for AI when it comes to generative technology and all that it can do.
DJRob
DJRob (he/him/his), who thought the 2023 film “M3gan,” about an AI-driven, evil doll who goes to extremes to protect its owner, was both funny and scary, is a freelance music blogger from somewhere on the East Coast who covers R&B, hip-hop, pop and rock genres – plus lots of music news and current stuff! You can follow him on Twitter at @djrobblog.
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