Additional Drake AI songs, besides artificial intelligence works made to sound like releases from other commercially prominent acts, are continuing to arrive on YouTube. Photo Credit: musicisentropy
Following the rise of “Heart on My Sleeve,” the AI floodgates appear to have swung open, as all manner of Drake tracks – or artificial intelligence songs made to sound like Drake tracks, that is – are now making their way onto YouTube.
The bevy of brand-new AI-created Drake songs arrives on the heels of Ghostwriter’s aforementioned “Heart on My Sleeve,” which was presented to fans as a “collaboration” between Drake and The Weeknd. Despite Universal Music Group’s efforts to remove the unauthorized work, which some said they initially believed was an official release, the soundalike track is continuing to make waves via reuploads on YouTube.
At the time of writing, one slightly modified version of “Heart on My Sleeve” – distributed to YouTube through DistroKid, according to its description – had racked up about 113,000 on-platform views. Another reupload had 141,000 or so views to its credit, and a newer reupload yet (the description for which reads “Imma just keep uploading it lol”) had approximately 30,000 views. (Additionally, Genius looks to have ripped down a lyrics page for the unapproved work.)
Now, as highlighted, different AI Drake tracks are also making a splash – and further demonstrating the scope of the unprecedented problem, which will of course expand dramatically moving forward.
“Winters Cold,” for instance, billed as an “original Ai song by Lvcci” that happens to feature the voice of Drake, had 71,000 YouTube views at the time of writing. “Drake better perform this live .. I don’t care if it’s AI or not.. this goes hard,” weighed in an enthusiastic commenter. (Others have gone ahead and released remixes and “edits” of the song.)
Next, “Too Late,” one of 25 songs uploaded by a channel called “Best AI Songs,” boasted about 3,000 views and appeared to have elicited positive listener feedback. “Yo this s–t has NO RIGHT goin this hard,” a fired-up fan wrote.
Meanwhile, a reupload of “Not A Game,” as performed by “Drake AI,” had climbed to around 4,000 views, whereas AI-powered Drake soundalike “covers” of obscure existing songs such as “Dreaming” (45,000 views) were garnering interest as well. “Holy s–t! The more I look for new Drake AI songs, the more I find them! And lots of them are fire! Soon new Drake songs will be dropping every hour of the day!” a viewer penned in the latter video’s comments section.
Needless to say, this response – and the many similar opinions being voiced – raises interesting questions about the AI avalanche’s impact on the reception to actual Drake releases in the coming months and years.
Shorter term, though, questions remain about the technical grounds for removal requests from Universal Music and the other majors, whose acts, notwithstanding the focus on and popularity of AI Drake projects, are likewise grappling with unauthorized artificial intelligence music.
While YouTube can simply comply (and, by the looks of it, has in fact been responding to the takedown requests), original AI music won’t be flagged by Content ID at the outset – nor do the seemingly uncopyrightable works appear to constitute infringement under current law and existing stateside legal precedents.