There are few things as reliable in this life as the constant presence of Twitter drama, as well as the shady dealings of digital music platforms — and when you throw cryptocurrency into the mix, all hell necessarily breaks loose.
Yesterday (February 1), the social media platform was abuzz with artists like Sadie Dupuis (Speedy Ortiz, Sad13), Eve 6, Jack Antonoff (Bleachers), clipping., MUNA and Claud who discovered that their music was allegedly being auctioned off as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) by music crypto beta HitPiece.
Claiming to let fans collect NFTs of their favourite songs, the website was hosting hundreds of what appeared to be active auctions tied to artists' albums and songs, ranging in prominence from the Beatles and Taylor Swift to smaller-scale indie musicians. This appeared to mean that, mirrored over from a streaming service, music was available on the platform to be turned into NFTs — without the artists' consent.
"Each HitPiece NFT is a One of One NFT for each unique song recording," HitPiece's FAQ section read prior to the site's takedown [via NME]. "Members build their Hitlist of their favourite songs, get on leaderboards and receive in real life value such as access and experiences with artists."
All of this was going on entirely unbeknownst to artists whose music was being sold. When they seemed to collectively get wind of what was going on, they were understandably upset.
Last night, HitPiece took to Twitter to respond to the uproar they had caused within the community.
"Clearly we have struck a nerve and we are very eager to create the ideal experience for music fans," the statement read. "To be clear, artists get paid when digital goods are sold on HitPiece."
The company continued, "Like all beta products, we are continuing to listen to user feedback and are committed to evolving the product to fit the needs of artists, labels and fans alike."
Yesterday (February 1), the social media platform was abuzz with artists like Sadie Dupuis (Speedy Ortiz, Sad13), Eve 6, Jack Antonoff (Bleachers), clipping., MUNA and Claud who discovered that their music was allegedly being auctioned off as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) by music crypto beta HitPiece.
Claiming to let fans collect NFTs of their favourite songs, the website was hosting hundreds of what appeared to be active auctions tied to artists' albums and songs, ranging in prominence from the Beatles and Taylor Swift to smaller-scale indie musicians. This appeared to mean that, mirrored over from a streaming service, music was available on the platform to be turned into NFTs — without the artists' consent.
"Each HitPiece NFT is a One of One NFT for each unique song recording," HitPiece's FAQ section read prior to the site's takedown [via NME]. "Members build their Hitlist of their favourite songs, get on leaderboards and receive in real life value such as access and experiences with artists."
All of this was going on entirely unbeknownst to artists whose music was being sold. When they seemed to collectively get wind of what was going on, they were understandably upset.
Last night, HitPiece took to Twitter to respond to the uproar they had caused within the community.
"Clearly we have struck a nerve and we are very eager to create the ideal experience for music fans," the statement read. "To be clear, artists get paid when digital goods are sold on HitPiece."
The company continued, "Like all beta products, we are continuing to listen to user feedback and are committed to evolving the product to fit the needs of artists, labels and fans alike."
The website has since been wiped clean, now merely reading: "We started the conversation and we're listening." How very thoughts-and-prayers of them!
Canadian artists like Backxwash and Kylie V were among those who spoke out against HitPiece's scamming practices, with unfavourable sentiments extending beyond the NFT frenzy that has been sweeping the music and art worlds.
The latter Vancouver indie-pop singer-songwriter born Kylie Van Slyke tweeted that they "have never and will never sell NFTs," asking HitPiece why the company was selling unauthorized NFTs of their music that they had given "ZERO RIGHTS TO." Van Slyke added, "[Y]'all owe me real money."
"I don't do NFTs," Zambian-Canadian rapper Backxwash echoed, letting fans know that if a site claims to have NFTs of her music, "don't buy from it lmao."
Like any form of unfamiliar innovation, there have been very mixed reactions to the increasing prevalence of NFTs — Brian Eno recently had some especially choice words on the matter.
And these indie musicians seem to have come to a consensus in the meantime: NFTs are the new MLMs. Meanwhile, some Canadian artists have been quicker to adopt the format. See some of the artists' reactions on Twitter upon the company's shady dealings coming to light yesterday (February 1) below.