The NFT trend continues in 2022, and yet it still remains as sketchy and questionable as ever. Recently, an NFT site, Hitpiece, has been accused by hundreds of artists of auctioning off singles and albums without their permission.
The website — which was virtually unheard of prior to this — features hundreds of live NFT auction listings for everyone from Drake and The Beatles, to small Australian bands. In electronic music artist’s case, we can find some interesting songs. For example, “Pure Grinding” of late producer and DJ Avicii at an initial list price of $100.
“Members build their Hitlist of their favorite songs, get on leaderboards, and receive in real life value such as access and experiences with artists”
Website’s description
While this site generates profits from the sale of NFTS, none of the artists involved approved their tracks being made into NFTs for sale by this site. Among the affected artists we find drummers, producers, and singers. Several of them spoke up about his situation on Twitter. They asked that no one buy anything they sold on this and other sites in their name. Some have actually mentioned that they are going to take legal action against the site.
Shortly after, HitPiece responded to everyone who was claiming their practices with a short statement. In this, it specified that the artists will be financially compensated from the profits, although we have no idea how.
HitPiece has claimed in correspondence with frustrated artists that tracks were sold as NFTs on the site with permission from music distributors. However, there is evidence that everything is simply being lifted from Spotify, and the music itself wasn’t actually being sold on HitPiece at all. When the site was live, it promised investors “access and experiences”, whatever that means.
Although it’s worth noting that the website doesn’t have any blockchain wallet connection available. It’s unclear if the items for sale are actually even NFTs in the first place. Artists affected are unsure what exactly is being sold and have been unable to get in contact with HitPiece directly.
HitPiece is currently unavailable to browse. This and more sites show the problem that the almost arbitrary appropriation of artistic works in the web world can cause. In some cases even exceed what copyright laws can cover. Without a doubt, one of the biggest issues that we will face in the following years.
