According to Rolling Stone, a website known as HitPiece that sold music-related NFTs has been temporarily shut down after musicians accused it of copying their work without permission. Artists such as Jack Antonoff, Eve 6, and Sadie Dupuy have lately published outraged social media remarks. Jack Antonoff tweeted, "All [Bleachers] NFTs are forgeries." "I do not believe in non-material forms of transfer, thus whatever you see related with me is fake."
The HitPiece website utilizes Spotify's API. According to the Internet Archive, before its closure, the website purported to offer NFTs of songs and albums by artists like John Lennon and BTS, as well as images and album artwork.
As with many other NFT business models, however, it is unclear precisely what HitPiece was offering. Alex Rudenshiold, guitarist and graduate student with Infant Island, told Rolling Stone, "This specific scam doesn't actually effect musicians because HitPiece wasn't really selling files of the songs, only a receipt of purchase for a rough notion of them." "It is still a violation of copyright. It is the unauthorised re-commodification of metadata (art, song, and album names, etc.) for financial gain."
HitPiece was formed by former independent label owner Rory Felton. It stated on Twitter, "Clearly we've hit a nerve, and we're eager to deliver the optimal experience for music aficionados." "To be clear, artists get compensated when digital items are sold on Hitpiece. "We continue to listen to all user input and are committed to adapting the product to meet the requirements of artists, labels, and fans.
Artists are also wary about HitPiece's assertion that they will be compensated. The band Deerhoof tweeted, "They steal your music, auction NFTs of it on their website, and when they are discovered they say, 'Don't worry, you'll get compensated.'" "I understand that corporate types are selfish and ruthless on principle, but what kind of mind could possibly conceive that such doublespeak could make it acceptable?"
In the instance of Hitpiece, an NFT music startup, the attention may become a legal scandal.
Hitpiece is a Utah-based firm led by music industry veteran Rory Felton. In 2000, Felton formed the musical label The Militia Group, which Sony purchased in 2012. Since 2015, Felton has also owned Feltone, an artist management company.
Hitpiece was released in 2021, at the apparently never-ending crest of NFT enthusiasm. The alleged business model was (relatively) simple: sell music as NFTs, or Non-Fungible Tokens. TechBuzz has previously highlighted Utah NFT companies, providing an introduction to the emerging topic of NFTs. NFTs represent self-custodial ownership of unique digital assets. The specific mechanics and even the fundamental concepts are still being developed, but that hasn't dampened interest in the field during the last year, as seen by a deluge of media attention, celebrity engagement, and record investment.
As NFT overtakes all digital media, the "NFT+Music" combination appears appropriate. But Hitpiece is suffering serious reaction for one reason: they offered nearly every piece of recorded music for sale as an NFT without authorization from the artists or IPR holders.
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