Earlier this year, when we were unable to ignore whatever latest cryptocurrency beta venture had been brought into the non-fungible fold, indie musicians discovered their music was allegedly being auctioned off as NFTs without their permission on an unauthorized marketplace HitPiece.
The likes of Sadie Dupuis, Eve 6, Jack Antonoff, MUNA, Backxwash and more publicly decried the platform for copyright infringement and were joined by trade organizations like the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the American Association of Independent Musicians, with the RIAA's chief legal officer Ken Doroshow calling HitPiece a "scam operation." By February 2, the website was wiped clean to merely read: "We started the conversation and we're listening."
But they clearly weren't all that deterred: last week, HitPiece officially (re)launched "the easiest place to buy authentic music artist NFTs," according to a press release, detailing a "first-of-its-kind" partnership with music rights identification company Audible Magic. "HitPiece will use Audible Magic's identification technology to help verify ownership of new music prior to minting of an NFT; thus ensuring only legitimate content is distributed," it reads.
In an email to Billboard, HitPiece CEO and co-founder Rory Felton claimed that, despite the outcry six months ago, no legal action has been taken against the company. Of lessons learned, Felton wrote that the platform has since realized that "we need to be buttoned up whenever we allow any portion of our service to be publicly available."
"By buttoned up," he added, "I mean having secured the necessary rights to any content that is made available through our platform."
In an interview with Input, Felton admitted that the company "failed to have the proper guardrails in place around the product, which led to the miscommunications and challenges that happened. We made mistakes with that, and we're looking to learn from that and build upon that."
As either damage control or enticement, the platform is planning to offer artists access to a "music lounge where you'll be able to share... your NFTs in an immersive listening room." In his correspondence with Billboard, Felton said HitPiece was still in the process of obtaining performance rights for this early-adopter exclusive.
The likes of Sadie Dupuis, Eve 6, Jack Antonoff, MUNA, Backxwash and more publicly decried the platform for copyright infringement and were joined by trade organizations like the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the American Association of Independent Musicians, with the RIAA's chief legal officer Ken Doroshow calling HitPiece a "scam operation." By February 2, the website was wiped clean to merely read: "We started the conversation and we're listening."
But they clearly weren't all that deterred: last week, HitPiece officially (re)launched "the easiest place to buy authentic music artist NFTs," according to a press release, detailing a "first-of-its-kind" partnership with music rights identification company Audible Magic. "HitPiece will use Audible Magic's identification technology to help verify ownership of new music prior to minting of an NFT; thus ensuring only legitimate content is distributed," it reads.
In an email to Billboard, HitPiece CEO and co-founder Rory Felton claimed that, despite the outcry six months ago, no legal action has been taken against the company. Of lessons learned, Felton wrote that the platform has since realized that "we need to be buttoned up whenever we allow any portion of our service to be publicly available."
"By buttoned up," he added, "I mean having secured the necessary rights to any content that is made available through our platform."
In an interview with Input, Felton admitted that the company "failed to have the proper guardrails in place around the product, which led to the miscommunications and challenges that happened. We made mistakes with that, and we're looking to learn from that and build upon that."
As either damage control or enticement, the platform is planning to offer artists access to a "music lounge where you'll be able to share... your NFTs in an immersive listening room." In his correspondence with Billboard, Felton said HitPiece was still in the process of obtaining performance rights for this early-adopter exclusive.