In the most obvious case of “oh you struck a nerve all right” comes the story of HitPiece, a new NFT platform that sought to let fans collect NFTs of their favorite songs.
Now you might be asking yourself, “Bri, how in the hell do you turn a song into an NFT?” And I would respond with, “I have NO IDEA?????” That would also be followed up with a big ol’, “WHY IS THIS A THING?????”
What I can tell you, for sure, is that if you’re going into any sort of business venture (crypto or otherwise) you should prooooobably ask permission from the artists you’re trying to work with.
Oh, and you should definitely NOT tell a blatant lie afterward.
What is (hopefully was) HitPiece?
According to Vulture, “HitPiece lets fans collect NFTs of your favorite songs.” At least that was the description on their website before everyone read them for filth. Their website now simply states, “We started the conversation and we’re listening,” as if the start of the conversation wasn’t, “Don’t fucking steal music from artists you curdled toe.”
In case the site changes again, here’s a screencap:
Vulture continues with an explanation of what they think HitPiece was trying to do. “What that seemed to mean in practice was music was available on HitPiece, like a streaming service, to be turned into NFTs without consent from musicians.”
Oh, I see. So HitPiece wasn’t turning music into NFTs, they were stealing music from artists and putting it on their streaming service so others could turn the songs into NFTs.
And they did all of this without asking permission from artists.
There is cartoon villainy, and then there’s whatever the hell HitPiece thought they were doing.
What makes this even more insidious is that a lot of the folks affected by this were indie artists. I first caught wind of the situation by seeing voice actors who also do music tweet about their work being stolen by HitPiece.
The irony of this is that a lot of voice actors have spoken against NFTs, so not only is their work being stolen, it’s being stolen to create something they’re vehemently against.
A reminder I will never sell any of my work as NFTs. If you see my stuff up for sale, it is illegally there.
— AmaLee / M̶̱̍ö̷̧́n̶̝͋a̷͔̓r̷̝̓c̶̼̈́h̸͕̀
(@LeeandLie) February 1, 2022
Something similar happened in the voice acting community with Voiceverse, a voice NFT platform that Troy Baker had joined.
I say had because he’s stepped away from it as of a couple of days ago.
Oh, and yes, Voiceverse was revealed to have stolen voice work from an indie creator.
Theft is incredibly common with NFTs—but the thieves never see it that way
After the huge blowup against HitPiece, the platform responded with their version of an apology.
Quoted below in case this tweet mysteriously disappears.
“Clearly we have struck a nerve and are very eager to create the ideal experience for music fans. To be clear, artists get paid when digital codes 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.”
Ok.
I just have a few questions.
Just a few.
When were the folks over at HitPiece gonna tell artists that they had their music on their platform?
How were the artists gonna be paid if they had no idea their music was on this platform, as a conversation needs to be had so artists can provide you with a way you can pay them. For example, as an indie author outside of my day job, I get quarterly reports of book sales from the platforms where my book is available, then I’m paid via the payment information I provided.
Since HitPiece, you know, didn’t TELL these artists what they were doing, how were they planning on paying them?
Was HitPiece gonna provide quarterly reports on when an artist’s song was downloaded? Do artists see any of those NFT j’s and pegs if someone purchases their song to turn it into an NFT?
Also, just a personal question: how high of a level of audacity must you have to write up a faux apology that boils down everyone’s anger to striking a nerve?
Theft is such a rampant problem with NFTs that it feels like a common practice folks assume they can just … do? DeviantArt, for example, created a new tool that scans for potential art theft in regards to NFTs. The tool, called DeviantArt Protect, was implemented in August 2001. As of the beginning of January 2022, DeviantArt reported that they had to send out over 80,000 alerts about NFT infringement.
HitPiece’s lack of an apology shows just how dismissive people are in how they go about trying to get in on the NFT market. This whole “of course artists will be paid” attitude without actually talking to the artists to see if they even WANT to be involved is a huge issue. Places like HitPiece think they’re allowed to take what they want and that everyone speaking against them just doesn’t understand the full potential of NFTs.
They think artists are angry because they’re confused over NFTs, that they can’t see the vision or the new wave of the future or (insert corporate buzzwords), but in reality, artists keep being screwed over by having their work taken without permission so someone else can profit off of it without giving them a crumb of that monkey art something about yachts money.
Bottom line? Stop stealing from artists and twisting it to make it sound like some tech revolution that’ll benefit them. Pay them real money to start whatever business venture you’re trying to do.
Screencap that and make a jpeg out of it.
(Image: NBC)
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