Rickyrich
OG
Musicians from all over the world set the Twitterverse ablaze when they voiced their displeasure with a brand new website selling their songs as NFTs without permission.
The team behind HitPiece took the website offline hours after widespread criticism over the site's users selling artists' work without permission. Through LinkedIn, angry artists discovered HitPiece was created by label executive Rory Felton, MC Serch, and venture capitalists Ryan Singer and Blake Modersitzki.
HitPiece allowed users to sell a piece of music as an NFT on an artist’s behalf. Recordings ranged from artists like John Lennon, Muse, and recordings from major brands and companies such as Pokemon and the Tokyo DisneySea theme park. Critics speculated that the website, which launched in beta on Dec. 1, was able to gather such a wide range of music through the APIs of digital service providers like Spotify and Apple Music but such theories have not been confirmed.
"The reality is that the immoral, unethical thing is that someone stole and profited off of someone's work without permission," said Jordan Reyes, founder of American Dream Records, who discovered his label's entire catalog was listed on the website. "These sorts of scams have existed forever. Now it's utilizing this new technology, but it is a huge scam. It's really absurd and kind of hilarious that they offered a Beatles NFT, a Pinocchio NFT."
According to reports, HitPiece "claims to run on a bespoke blockchain called HitChain that runs parallel to the Ethereum blockchain." The platform's website stated that "each time an artist's NFT is purchased or sold, a royalty from each transaction is accounted to the rights holders account." The site also claimed NFTs were only transferred to buyers after an auction was completed.
After going offline, the HitPiece website replaced its homepage with a message that read, "We Started The Conversation And We're Listening," while also issuing a larger statement on Twitter.
"Clearly we have struck a nerve and are very eager to create the ideal experience for music fans," the statement said. "To be clear, artists get paid when digital goods are sold on HitPiece. Like all beta products, we are continuing to listen to all user feedback and are committed to evolving the product to fit the needs of the artists, labels, and fans alike."
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