A band that doesn't exist became a hit on Spotify: over half a million people listened to AI
Spotify does not label songs created by AI. In a month, the AI-based band released two albums and entered thousands of playlists.
Spotify does not label songs created by AI. In a month, the AI-based band released two albums and entered thousands of playlists.
More than half a million listeners have become fans of a band created entirely by artificial intelligence. The Velvet Sundown is a fake rock band that released two albums on Spotify in June and quickly found its way into thousands of user playlists. The band members do not exist, and the covers and lyrics are generated by a neural network.
This is reported by Ars Technica. The Velvet Sundown has released albums Floating On Echoes and Dust and Silence, and the third is preparing for release in the near future. The style is a mixture of classic rock with echo effects, autotune and typical repeating motifs. If you listen to it separately, it sounds convincing. But when listening sequentially, the pattern becomes obvious.
The names of the four members listed on the Spotify profile are not mentioned outside the account. Photos on the band’s Instagram page, created on June 27, have typical signs of the generation: unnatural facial symmetry, unnecessary objects on tables, composition errors.
Spotify does not require disclosure of the use of AI in the creation of music. On Deezer, where the band is also represented, a warning appeared: «Some tracks were created using artificial intelligence.» Spotify’s bio previously mentioned Billboard, but it was removed.
Earlier on Last Week Tonight, John Oliver mentioned another similar example: the AI band The Devil Inside, which released 10 albums in two years. Both projects have similar lyrical themes, likely due to the limitations of generative models.
While companies like Google are testing AI-powered watermarks for images, streaming services still don’t label audio, which can make it difficult for users to understand who is actually creating the content: a human or an algorithm.
As a reminder, we also published a story about how The Beatles' track «Now and Then» with artificial intelligence won a Grammy for Best Rock Performance. This is the first time a song of this kind has received this award.
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