HitPiece Controversy

Submission 3,319

Part of a series on NFT / Non-Fungible Token / Crypto Art. [View Related Entries]

Overview

The HitPiece Controversy refers to the backlash of musicians and DIY-indie artists against the website HitPiece in early 2022, which purported to auction music on the internet as NFTs. Many artists whose music was on HitPiece said they'd never authorized their music to appear on the platform and demanded it removed. HitPiece organizers apologized and took the site down after a day of controversy in February 2022.

Background

HitPiece appears to have been founded by music executives Rory Felton and Michael Berrin.^[1] The site's Twitter account launched in July 2021^[2] and entered its beta period in December 2021.^[3]

The concept behind the site was an attempt to auction music as NFTs. Before the HitPiece website was taken down in early 2022, it read:^[1]

"HitPiece lets fans collect NFTs of your favorite songs. Each HitPiece NFT is a One of One NFT for each unique song recording. Members build their Hitlist of their favorite songs, get on leaderboards, and receive in real life value such as access and experiences with Artists… One NFT is available for auction from each artist initially. The auction commences when the first bid is placed and lasts seven days. When the auction has been won, the NFT is minted and delivered to the winner’s custodial wallet. The next NFT from the artist becomes available. The winner of the auction reveals the next NFT from the artist. The winner receives the newly minted NFT to their custodial wallet on HitPiece.com and can show it off in their Hitlist or sell the NFT at anytime."

Prior to going viral, the site had amassed a sizable library, including music from industry giants BTS and Disney, as well as many indie artists with smaller followings.^[1]

Developments

On February 1st, 2022, a large number of the musicians whose music was being auctioned on HitPiece discovered they were on the platform without their consent, angering many who expressed their thoughts online. Eve 6^[4] was one of the first bands to notice that their music was on HitPiece without their consent (shown below, left). A flood of other artists soon made the same discovery and had similar reactions, including Left At London^[5] (shown below, right), Louie Zong, ^[6] clipping^[7] and many others. Others noted that the site was hosting music from major artists including The Beatles, Disney and Nintendo, leading them to assume HitPiece would soon face major lawsuits.^[8]

In response to the controversy, HitPiece^[9] took down their site around the beginning of February 2022. As of February 2nd, the homepage depicted a minimal page of text reading, "We started the conversation and we're listening" (shown below, left). They also posted an apology on Twitter^[10] saying they "clearly struck a nerve," and insisted artists were paid by having their music on the platform.