one year on
AI-generated Drake and Weeknd track pulled from streaming services after going viral
The song 'Heart on My Sleeve,' posted by a user called Ghostwriter977 using AI-generated vocals, amassed millions of streams in days before Universal Music Group forced its removal, escalating tensions over generative AI in music.
A song featuring AI-generated vocals impersonating Drake and the Weeknd has been pulled from Spotify, TikTok, and YouTube after a viral weekend, as the music industry confronts a surge of voice-cloning technology.
The track, titled ‘Heart on My Sleeve’ and posted by a user called Ghostwriter977, had amassed over 600,000 Spotify streams, 15 million TikTok views, and 275,000 YouTube views by the time Universal Music Group (UMG) secured its removal on April 17. The label described the song as ‘infringing content created with generative AI’ and warned platforms that they must ‘prevent the use of their services in ways that harm artists.’
The incident follows UMG’s recent demand that streaming services block AI companies from accessing its catalog, and it caps a week in which Drake himself publicly rebuked an AI-generated version of his voice on social media. The Recording Industry Association of America has also flagged widespread copyright violations by AI firms training on music.
UMG declined to clarify whether it had sent formal takedown requests.
The record
Condemned the song as 'infringing content created with generative AI' and questioned which side of history platforms want to be on: 'artists, fans and human creative expression, or the side of deep fakes, fraud and denying artists their due compensation'
Responded on Instagram Story to an AI-generated version of Ice Spice's song 'Munch' featuring a fake verse by him, writing 'This is the final straw AI'
One year later — open only if you can handle spoilers
The 'Heart on My Sleeve' episode became a landmark case in AI and copyright, spurring legislative proposals and industry-wide guidelines. Drake and the Weeknd have not commented on the song since, but the artist behind Ghostwriter977 remained anonymous, and the track never officially returned to streaming services.