Key facts
- The Apple Music page for singer D4vd was reportedly hacked, with a song titled 'I Did It' added.
- The song used a picture of an abandoned Tesla as artwork and has been removed.
- D4vd, real name David Anthony Burke, is currently jailed awaiting trial on murder and sexual abuse charges.
- The alleged victim was 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose body was found in a Tesla registered to Burke.
- Similar incidents of fake songs appearing on artist pages have affected other musicians, including Ariana Grande and Katseye.
The Apple Music page for US singer D4vd, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, was reportedly hacked over the weekend. A song titled 'I Did It' was added to his discography, featuring a picture of an abandoned Tesla as its artwork. The song, which has since been removed, is believed to be a version of an unreleased track called 'Celeste'.
Burke is currently in jail awaiting trial on charges of murdering and sexually abusing 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Her body was found last year inside a Tesla registered to Burke, who has denied all charges. The song 'Celeste' allegedly refers to the victim, though Burke has not acknowledged the leaked track.
This incident is part of a broader trend of unauthorized content appearing on artist streaming pages. Ariana Grande and the girl group Katseye also had songs with offensive titles appear on their pages. These tracks are often uploaded by bad actors exploiting loopholes in the audio file submission process, generating royalties for counterfeiters. Spotify reported removing over 75 million 'spammy tracks' in the past year, and Sony Music requested the removal of over 135,000 impersonating songs. Even with these measures, another fake D4vd song was briefly live on Spotify.
D4vd, who gained fame on TikTok, was on tour when the victim's body was found. Prosecutors allege Burke killed Rivas Hernandez after she threatened to reveal his alleged abuse of a minor. A judge will decide whether the case proceeds to trial after preliminary hearings.