HitPiece, an NFT music site that was once called “a scam”, is relaunching

At its launch on December 1, 2021, NFT music marketplace HitPiece promised users the ability to purchase NFTs tied to the back catalogs of some of the world’s most popular musicians.

There was just one problem: The musicians themselves, including BTS and Taylor Swift, had no idea. In early February, after learning that NFTs associated with his band Bleachers were listed for sale on HitPiece, Jack Antonoff tweeted:

Wolfgang Van Halen, frontman of the band Mammoth WVH, was more blunt:

Artists seemed particularly distraught that one of their own — Michael Berrin, AKA MC Serch of ’90s hip-hop act 3rd Bass — was among the people behind the company.

Chastened by the overwhelming negative reaction, HitPiece posted on social media: “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 continue to listen to all user feedback and are committed to evolving the product to fit the needs of the artists, labels and fans.”

The next morning, the page’s content had been taken down, replaced by a simple message: “We started the conversation and we’re listening.” Meanwhile, HitPiece was subjected to a series of, yes, hit pieces that called the site more despised among musicians than Spotify and “like, an incalculable number of 9/11s” for artists.

Now, six months later, HitPiece is back — and the company wants you to forget about it all come February.

For the relaunch, the 15-member HitPiece team has signed up about 50 artists, including hip-hoppers ATL Jacob, Lil Gnar and Lil Gotit, who are creating NFT versions of the songs and other content, according to site co-founder Rory Felton, who previously co-founded record label Militia Group (later acquired by Sony). Felton tells Input data that the company will announce “tier-one, Grammy-nominated artists at the diamond level as well.”

HitPiece, which Felton says received $5 million in funding early on, charges a 10 percent transaction fee for all NFTs sold through the platform. There’s also a metaverse component: “Early adopters will gain access to their own music lounge where you can share your … NFTs in an immersive listening room,” the site explains.

“Artists can now go to HitPiece.com and sign up to be verified,” Felton says Input data right out of the gate. (That’s Felton pictured on the left in the main photo, along with ATL Jacob.) “One of the value additions we bring to this space is to ensure that only registered and verified artists make their mark on behalf of those artists.” HitPiece is doing so in partnership with content recognition company Audible Magic, which will “help verify ownership of new music prior to minting an NFT,” according to a press release from HitPiece.

That Felton leads with safe, secure verification as the track for HitPiece speaks volumes for what went before. When asked about the February controversy, he explains that the situation was a “beta experiment” that got out of hand.

Between the time HitPiece went online and the week artists discovered their work was allegedly being monetized without their permission, Felton claims to have had hundreds of phone calls and meetings with artists, record labels and rights holders. “The overwhelming feedback at the time was extremely positive and excited about it,” he says.

So what went wrong? “Obviously, we failed to have the right guardrails in place around the product, which led to the miscommunication and challenges that occurred,” he says. “We made mistakes with it and we want to learn from it and build on it.”

According to a February article in Vice, the HitPiece block explorer showed that hundreds of NFTs had been minted since the site’s launch. “Apparently anyone could register on HitPiece to sell a piece of music as an NFT, even on behalf of an artist,” the outlet reported.

“Clearly, we failed to have the proper guardrails in place ensuring that only creative content rights holders could actually create NFTs containing their assets,” Felton says. “But it should also be clear that none of the betas were on a decentralized blockchain. It was all on a private chain in a custodial experience.”

Despite the fact that some of the NFTs on the site were minted, Felton claims that no music was actually for sale on HitPiece; The platform only displayed artwork related to artists’ releases, which were also not available for purchase. (HitPiece’s content was scraped from Spotify’s publicly available metadata, Los Angeles Times reported.)

“I not on the whole agree with the RIAA claim that there is one fraud. It’s not ours business was or about.”

“It was an attempt to make it easy for an artist to have their own storefront, and to show them how quickly it could be done, so they could quickly get into this space,” he says. Felton calls the first version of HitPiece a demonstration: “a game, or a vision of the future, if you will.” He adds: “It just got away from us.”

Sadie Dupuis, frontwoman for the indie rock band Speedy Ortiz, who found her music listed on HitPiece early this year, didn’t see it as a game. “For a company artists have not chosen to work with to financially benefit from our work without permission is pretty clear copyright theft,” she says Input data.

Regardless of what happened earlier this year, it’s fair to say that the beta launch of HitPiece did not go well. In addition to the musicians who denounced the company after finding their artwork on the site, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) condemned the site in a press release and a letter to HitPiece’s attorney.

In that press release, Ken Doroshow, the RIAA’s chief legal officer, said, “HitPiece appears to be little more than a scam operation designed to trade on fans’ love of music and desire to connect more closely with artists, using buzzwords and jargon to conceals their complete failure to obtain necessary rights.”

It’s a representation Felton takes over. “I don’t agree at all with the RIAA claim that it’s a scam,” he says. “That’s not what our business was or is about.” Felton did not directly respond to a question from Input data whether the situation with the RIAA was resolved, saying instead that the association has since put HitPiece directly in touch with member brands that the RIAA represents.

“We don’t actively talk to the RIAA, because we talk to their member parties,” Felton says. The RIAA declined Input dataits request for comment.

A remarkable departure

One party Felton and HitPiece aren’t actively talking to: Berrin, AKA MC Serch, who parted ways with the company in the wake of the controversy.

“He’s an old friend of mine, a longtime colleague,” Felton says. “He has just decided to pursue other opportunities at this time and we wish him every success in these new endeavors.” Asked if Berrin’s departure was related to the controversy, Felton reiterated, “He decided to pursue other opportunities and we wish him every success in everything he does.”

Berrin, likewise, is not coming. “My reason for leaving HitPiece is no comment,” Berrin says in another email Input data“but I wish them well in their future endeavours.”

Despite the drama, Felton remains eager to relaunch HitPiece — and believes musicians are, too. “We’re really just focused on helping artists achieve what they want to achieve,” he says. “We believe we have achieved this. We know we have the easiest platform out there for music artists to use to create NFTs and audiences to buy, and we hope to continue to innovate in the space and bring more people into Web3.”

Felton admits that the negative headlines and the subsequent redesign of the platform have cost the company precious time. Now, of course, the NFT market has crashed. But he remains confident about the future. “Anyone who goes into the NFT space has to have a long-term vision for it,” he says. “Just like crypto, there seem to be big swings, both up and down.”

“I am secure there may be some artists who [the controversy is] one obstacle for them. And we are happy about that talk to them if they have any questions about what happened and where we shall.”

Felton claims HitPiece’s past missteps haven’t been a problem for the 50 or so artists they’ve partnered with for the relaunch. He brushes off the idea that HitPiece needs to work harder based on what has gone before. “I’ve been an entrepreneur my whole career,” he says. “In a way, it just feels like everything else I’ve done.”

He positions the problems HitPiece had back in February as normal for boundary breakers. “I think everybody in the startup world, you’re pushing a new reality on the universe, right? That’s never an easy feat. But we think we’re providing real value for artists and for fans.”

When Input data pointing to the reality to Felton that any artist who hears HitPiece’s pitch is going to Google them and see past headlines, he replies, “I’m sure there might be some artists that are a barrier to them. And we are happy to talk to them if they have questions about what happened and where we are going.”

The challenges Felton and HitPiece face are perhaps best summed up by Dupuis. “If HitPiece has figured out a way to run their business without infringing IP, it’s certainly an improvement over the messy and illegal beta they released earlier this year,” she says. “But it’s certainly not a service I’ll be choosing anytime soon — or ever.”