HitPiece
Controversial Music NFT Platform HitPiece Relaunches Months After Shutdown
Mere months after being slammed by the music industry at large for auctioning music NFTs without artists’ consent, HitPiece has relaunched, Billboard reports. Legions of artists lashed out at HitPiece in early 2022 after a plethora of NFTs appeared on the controversial marketplace without their consent. After major recording artists like Jack Antonoff and industry trade organizations like the RIAA admonished the platform, its website went offline. But HitPiece is now back online and aiming to be “the easiest place to create and buy authentic music artist NFTs,” according to Billboard. “HitPiece is working with the licensors of music to secure performance rights,” Felton said in an email to Billboard. “We may enter into agree...
After Rocky Launch, HitPiece Is Trying to Recruit Artists to the Platform
After sparking music industry outrage over a plan to auction an NFT for every song in the world — without first securing rights holders’ permission — NFT platform HitPiece now reaching out to artists’ teams in hopes of forging official partnerships. Co-founder Rory Felton also tells Billboard the company has hired Gary Greenstein of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati “to represent the company in discussions with rights owners and to advise HitPiece on legal matters.” After HitPiece’s beta launch in caught the industry’s attention in February for pulling artwork and other information off of Spotify without artists’ permission, the backlash caused Felton’s company to pull its site offline. Days later, the RIAA — on behalf of the major labels — threatened a lawsuit against HitPiece and...
RIAA Slams “Scam Operation” HitPiece, Urges NFT Website to Permanently Shutter
HitPiece may have endured the shortest lifespan of any NFT platform thus far, but the implications of its brief existence are still unraveling. Co-founded by entrepreneurs Rory Felton and Jeff Burningham, HitPiece leveraged Spotify’s API in order to list thousands of NFTs for sale corresponding to singles from innumerable different artists. The site quickly caused a stir when artists spoke up on social media en masse, claiming no one from HitPiece had consulted them in regards to monetizing their content in NFT format. The swift rebuke caused HitPiece to take down their site as quickly as it popped up, though they suggested the move is merely a temporary measure. Today, all that remains of the marketplace is a note on the site’s homepage: “We started the conversatio...
RIAA Threatens Legal Action Against NFT Platform HitPiece, Calls It ‘Outright Theft’
A new NFT platform called HitPiece launched a beta site this week. The site was selling thousands of song and album artwork NFTs; however, created them using information from Spotify’s API without permission from the artists or their record labels. Unsurprisingly, this caused outrage in the music community, and now the RIAA is threatening legal action, calling HitPiece’s actions “outright theft.” As Billboard reports, the RIAA sent HitPiece a demand letter on behalf of major labels, claiming intellectual property rights infringement. “As you are no doubt aware, your clients, through the HitPiece website, have been engaged in the systematic and flagrant infringement of the intellectual property rights of the Record Companies and their recording artists on a massive scale,” RIAA se...
HitPiece Wanted to Make an NFT for Every Song — Only Its Founders Forgot to Ask Artists First
Over the last couple days, a beta version of a new platform called HitPiece has sparked outrage and confusion throughout the music industry after artists and their teams began finding NFTs of their songs posted on the marketplace without their permission. The NFTs were listed as “available for auction” or as “live” auctions under individual song titles with corresponding album artwork, and while they were characterized as “music NFTs” they did not appear to contain audio. HitPiece’s mission, according to the company’s pitch deck, is to make a “1 of 1 NFT for every song,” allowing “USD and Crypto for payment.” The company launched in December, but it wasn’t until Tuesday that people began to really take notice that it was listing NFTs for artists ranging from XXXTentacion to John Lennon to ...
Artists Are Blasting an NFT Auction Platform After Their Music Appeared Without Their Knowledge
A controversial NFT marketplace has drawn the ire of many in the music industry and creator economy at large. Legions of musicians are taking to social media to condemn HitPiece, a platform allegedly minting and selling music NFTs without artists’ knowledge. According to HitPiece’s website, the marketplace “lets fans collect NFTs of your favorite songs.” However, it’s unclear whether or not the company has acquired the rights to the songs and gone through the necessary channels to publicly list them on its platform. Per its website, HitPiece also claims to remit a royalty to artists whose music NFTs are purchased or sold, but suggests the rights-holder must create an account to receive payments. “Each time an artist’s NFT is purchased or sold, a royalty ...
