Music NFT startup HitPiece is relaunching with artist partners months after being branded a scam
Music NFT company HitPiece has relaunched months after it was accused by artists and industry organizations of being a “scam”.
The company claimed back in February that its service would “allow fans to collect NFTs of your favorite songs,” offering NFTs tied to albums and songs from the likes of The Beatles, Taylor Swift, and Bob Dylan, as well as smaller, less established artists. .
HitPiece relaunched last week with new artist partnerships and industry ties, moving out of the testing beta stage. According to founder Rory Felton, the label has signed deals with young artists and producers, including producer ATL Jacob and rappers and singers Lil Gnar and Lil Gotit.
In an interview with Input data, Felton said HitPiece’s initial launch earlier this year had occurred before he had secured “the right guardrails in place around the product, which led to miscommunications and challenges occurring”. “We made mistakes with it and we want to learn from it and build on it,” he said.
🚨 Announcing a first of its kind collaboration with @audiblemagic which helps ensure that only artists/owners make NFTS of their music. See you in #Metaverse @atljacobbeatz @1lilgotit @mattox__ @Blokken__ #NFT #NFT community #Web3 click the link for info
— HitPiece (@joinhitpiece) 11 August 2022
He added that he “didn’t agree at all” with claims by Ken Doroshow, the RIAA’s general counsel, that HitPiece was “a scam”. Felton said the company was “not actively talking to the RIAA” but was in contact with record labels.
Talking to Billboard, the founder added that he had learned that the company “needs to be buttoned up when we allow any part of our service to be publicly available”. “By unbuttoned, I mean to have secured the necessary rights to all content made available through our platform,” he explained.
In addition to its new artist partnerships, HitPiece is also said to be working with music rights company Audible Magic, which will help the brand “verify ownership of new music before minting an NFT”.
Among the plans, the website hopes to introduce a “music lounge”, where NFTs will be able to be shared in “an immersive listening room”. Felton said the rights for that part of the company were still being obtained, and he was working with music licensors to secure those rights. He added that deals with individual songwriters, publishers, artists and labels could be approached rather than secured from performing rights organisations.
Back in February, several musicians shared online that they had not consented to their music being allegedly auctioned off as NFTs on HitPiece. “We have no deal with you or any NFT site and it SURE LOOKS like an active auction going on for a speedy ortiz song,” tweeted Speedy Ortiz and Sad13 star Sadie Dupuis.
Bleachers’ Jack Antonoff added: “All NFTs for stands are fake. At the moment I don’t believe in NFTs, so anything you see associated with me is not real.”
My art is currently being sold on the blockchain by people who are not affiliated with me at all. I don’t know who uploaded them to @joinhitpiece. They profit from. NFTs are crap and if you support them you are indirectly supporting the demise of independent artistry. FOH.
— nat “police break laws to terrorize/intimidate” puff (@LeftAtLondon) 1 February 2022
Left At London’s Nat Puff wrote: “My art is currently being sold on the blockchain by people who are not affiliated with me at all. I don’t know who uploaded them to @joinhitpiece. They profit from. NFTs are crap and if you support them you are indirectly supporting the demise of independent artistry. FOH.”
“Clearly we’ve struck a nerve and are very eager to create the ideal experience for music fans,” HitPiece responded in a statement shared on Twitter shortly afterward. It went on to claim that “artists get paid when digital goods are sold on HitPiece”, but said it “continues to listen to all user feedback and is committed to evolving the product to fit the needs of the artists, labels and fans.” .
