Tell HN: Viral Hit Made by AI, 10M listens on Spotify last few days

4 points by montebicyclelo 125 days ago | 5 comments

The song is an unofficial cover of Stromae's Papaoutai.

The author has stated it's AI in their YouTube video descriptions [1] [2], e.g.

> Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the original song's lyrics or melody. This is an Al-generated cover intended for entertainment and homage. The original composition, lyrics, and music are the sole property of the original artists, writers, and copyright holders.

It has gone viral in last few days, due to TikTok and YouTube Shorts.

10,000,000 listens on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/track/0HI7kOxEfnSMD2Z27BJnJN

There's various other YouTube videos of it with millions of views.

I heard of it myself through YouTube shorts, and after a few listens suspected it was AI.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWHpljeJv34

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ8GbwQV5zE

mynti 125 days ago |

This is actually the first song where I would not have guessed it to be AI. I think the video is "performed" by a real human?

montebicyclelo 124 days ago | |

Yep, it is convincing. And it seems the video is performed by a human, although I did think it could be AI. They say in the description:

> I couldn't resist putting a face to this gem.

After saying it is AI:

> How people was touched by this version of « Papoutai » by stromae made by AI, I was also touched as y’all, as an independent Artist I wanted to put my emotions and my soul on this masterpiece

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ8GbwQV5zE

anigbrowl 124 days ago | | |

as an independent Artist I wanted to put my emotions and my soul on this masterpiece

Barf

lotsofpulp 124 days ago |

Is the uploader able to earn advertising revenue from Youtube for this?

4d4m 124 days ago | |

Only until a copyright claim via contentid. But legally they are on the hook for mechanical royalty since this would be both a cover and unauthorized remix (current genai audio uses unlicensed audio for training data)