A number of musicians and record labels have expressed anger over a company called HitPiece, which has listed single and album artwork as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The allegations began to circulate on social media yesterday and have been reported by Mashable’s Amanda Yeo. Artists like Amber Coffman, Ted Leo, Speedy Ortiz’s Sadie Dupuis, and many others have taken to social media stating that they had no part in their songs being listed as NFTs on HitPiece.
Dupuis, who has written multiple posts on Twitter decrying the website, stated: “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.”
Leo posted a photo of HitPiece’s listing for an NFT of the Pharmacists’ song “Come Baby Come,” writing: “Bottom feeding scavengers of late capitalism sucking the last marrow from our bones and/or running a scam on me, you, or everyone, because obviously, I didn’t approve this, and apparently neither did anyone else you’ll see on the site.”
Coffman wrote that she was “just made aware” of HitPiece in an Instagram Story (viewed by Pitchfork), and that her music was listed on the site. “What even is this and what can be done?” she wrote.
Many more artists have spoken out against the company, including Laura Jane Grace, Jeff Rosenstock, Backxwash, Adult Mom, Eve 6, Wolfgang Van Halen, and more. In addition, Jack Antonoff tweeted, “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!”
Late last night, HitPiece issued a statement on the company’s Twitter account. “Clearly we have struck a nerve and are very eager to create the ideal experience for music fans,” the post reads. “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 artists, labels, and fans alike.”
The company told Billboard that “the ability of artists or owners to be paid is a functionality that HitPiece is developing.” It continued by clarifying that it “never used or sold any copyright music without permission and [HitPiece] will not do so.” A representative explained: “The metaverse is a new frontier, and HitPiece allows users to create a digital display of album artwork associated with their favorite music, with a one-of-a-kind, non-fungible token (“NFT”) of the artwork. HitPiece’s mission is to create a fun experience in the metaverse for music fans and a new revenue stream for artists and owners.”
As of this writing, HitPiece has scrubbed its website of NFT content, and replaced it with a message: “We Started the Conversation and We’re Listening.” HitPiece has also responded to the outcry by suggesting that artists direct message the company on social media, and asserting that the company is not a scam. Pitchfork has reached out to HitPiece co-founder Rory Felton for comment.
Briefly, HitPiece launched a secondary website at the URL gethitpiece.com. The homepage included a bio stating that the company is “dedicated to building a community where you can purchase one-of-one unique music NFT’s’ directly from your favorite artists.” There was a selection of NFTs for sale at the bottom of the page, but clicking to “view more” led to the original url, which remains inactive. The whole site is currently down.
HitPiece was founded in 2021 by Felton and Jeff Burningham—an entrepreneur who was an early investor in Spotify—according to the Business Builders podcast. Rumors have circulated that Queens rapper MC Serch is also involved with HitPiece. When reached by the New York Post, Serch said, “We will be releasing a statement later today.”
Speaking with the Business Builders podcast, Felton outlined HitPiece’s business model. He said that HitPiece is built on top of Spotify’s API, therefore having access to the streaming platform’s entire music catalog. HitPiece sells one of one edition NFTs, meaning that each song gets a unique, singular token. “The idea is you get to show off to your friends or people around the world, like, you own the greatest hit list you could create of like all your favorite songs,” Felton said. “Artists get royalties from not only the initial auction but also every time it’s traded.”
Felton also said that the sale of a HitPiece NFT would become a “perpetual revenue stream” for artists and rights holders. In addition, he compared an NFT of a lesser known indie band to a rookie baseball card that could appreciate value should the artist become successful.
This article was originally published on Wednesday, February 2 at 2:21 p.m. Eastern. It was last updated on Friday, February 4 at 4:34 p.m. Eastern.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story noted that HitPiece appeared to be selling songs as NFTs. The company has clarified that it is selling single and album artwork as NFTs.