Artists band together against HitPiece for allegedly listing their singles and album art as NFTs without permission

An NFT auction site in beta is causing a major stir in the music world – for all the wrong reasons. Artists from across the music world have banded together to accuse HitPiece of listing representations of their music for big bucks without any permission.

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Launched in December 2021, HitPiece positioned its auctions as ways for fans to own “one of one NFTs” of their favourite songs, packaged with the possibility of real-world experiences with said artists.

The listings, which were taken down from the site recently, appeared to be of NFTs linked to music from an impressive array of artists from The Beatles and Billie Eilish, to even artists represented by smaller, independent labels. However, it seems none of these artists were informed.

Jack Antonoff, Sadie Dupuis (of Speedy Ortiz), Clipping, Eve6 and Muna were just some who took to Twitter to slam the platform this week.

“Hey you stupid fucks @joinhitpiece, we don’t have any deal with you or any NFT site and there SURE DOES LOOK like an active auction going on for a Speedy Ortiz song,” wrote Dupuis in one of her tweets denouncing the platform.

hey you stupid fucks @joinhitpiece we don't have any deal with you or any NFT site and there SURE DOES LOOK like an active auction going on for a speedy ortiz song

hope everyone's reporting this garbage to copyrightcomplaints@godaddy.com as a few folks have recommended @GoDaddy https://t.co/VFg4gq5wVK

— speedy ortiz ÷ sad13 ÷ sadie dupuis ÷ haunted guy (@sad13) February 1, 2022

See a range of other messages below:

Thanks for the heads up. We’re looking into what we can do to get it taken down. Fuck this scam shit https://t.co/bQCAZZ2sfe

— Clipping (@clppng) February 2, 2022

any bleachers NFTs are fake. at the moment i do not believe in NFTs so anything you see associated with me isn’t real. and thanks to M for sending me this bullshit 🙂 i’m on one today!

— jackantonoff (@jackantonoff) February 1, 2022

https://twitter.com/Eve6/status/1488623643072471041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1488623643072471041%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nme.com%2Fen_asia%2Fnews%2Fmusic%2Fartists-slam-website-hitpiece-for-listing-their-songs-as-nfts-for-auction-without-their-knowledge-3152114

Hey @joinhitpiece why is my music on your website? I didnt authorize this shit. You owe me MONEY (not crypto, REAL FUCKING MONEY)

— Im @leftatlondon on other websites too (HINT HINT) (@LeftAtLondon) February 1, 2022

kindly take our shit off your site @joinhitpiece pic.twitter.com/tdWSPa1ZRl

— MUNA (@whereisMUNA) February 1, 2022

apparently a lot of my music's been stolen and put up as NF*s on this platform called hitpiece. fuck this! pic.twitter.com/t03Mjs81U8

— Louie Zong (@everydaylouie) February 1, 2022

HitPiece has responded to the backlash in several ways. Its auction platform has been replaced by a landing page with the statement: “We Started The Conversation And We’re Listening.”

The platform issued a statement on Twitter: “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 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.”

https://twitter.com/joinhitpiece/status/1488715576973283330?cxt=HHwWhMCqkcC7_agpAAAA

According to Billboard, the technology that lets artists and rights owners receive compensation is still being built. “The ability of artists or owners to be paid is a functionality that HitPiece is developing,” a HitPiece representative told the publication, clarifying that it “never used or sold any copyright music without permission” and doesn’t intend to.

Stay tuned for more on this story as we know it…