RIAA goes after NFT site HitPiece for "flagrant" IP infringement

Last week various artists including Jack Antonoff, MUNA, Clipping, Sadie Dupuis (Sad13, Speedy Ortiz), Backxwash and more united on Twitter to share their disapproval of HitPiece, a NFT site that minted and sold music NFTs without artists' consent or knowledge.

Following the backlash from artists and music fans online, HitPiece issued shared a statement, in which they said they "have struck a nerve and are very eager to create the ideal experience for music fans." HitPiece also claimed that artists do "get paid when digital goods are sold on HitPiece."

Billboard has since reported that the Recording Industry Association of America has sent a demand letter to HitPiece on behalf of major labels. "As you are no doubt aware, your clients, through the HitPiece website, have been engaged in the systematic and flagrant infringement of the intellectual property rights of the Record Companies and their recording artists on a massive scale," RIAA senior vice president of litigation Jared Freedman wrote.

Freedman also highlighted that the recordings and artwork are "owned or exclusively controlled by the Record Companies" that the RIAA represents and added, "Your clients' outright theft of these valuable intellectual property rights is as outrageous as it is brazen."

Although HitPiece has already been taken offline, the RIAA argued that HitPiece is still "liable to the record companies and their artists for damages" for the time that it was live.

RIAA chairman and CEO Mitch Glazier said, "As music lovers and artists embrace new technologies like NFTs, there’s always someone looking to exploit their excitement and energy. Given how fans were misled and defrauded by these unauthorized NFTs and the massive risk to both fans and artists posed by HitPiece and potential copycats, it was clear we had to move immediately and urgently to stand up for fairness and honesty in the market."

RIAA’s chief legal officer Ken Doroshow said HitPiece "appears to be little more than a scam operation designed to trade on fans’ love of music and desire to connect more closely with artists, using buzzwords and jargon to gloss over their complete failure to obtain necessary rights."

A HitPiece spokesperson told Billboard that "the ability of artists or owners to be paid is a functionality that HitPiece is developing" and that the company "never used or sold any copyright music without permission and [HitPiece] will not do so … HitPiece’s mission is to create a fun experience in the metaverse for music fans and a new revenue stream for artists and owners."