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Band with 1.2 million monthly listeners on Spotify admits to being AI...
Posted on 7/10/25 at 10:13 am
Posted on 7/10/25 at 10:13 am
quote:
A band called The Velvet Sundown has launched a debut album on Spotify, and the group has quickly racked up over a million listeners. And though the group's aesthetic and sound seem lifted out of the Sunset Strip in the '60s or '70s, the reality is a little different.
The Velvet Sundown is described as "Not quite human. Not quite machine."
Newsweek has reached out to Spotify via an online contact form for comment.
The Velvet Sundown currently has over a million monthly listeners on Spotify, with their top track "Dust on the Wind" having garnered over a 1.1 million streams as of press time.
The Spotify description reads: "The Velvet Sundown is a synthetic music project guided by human creative direction, and composed, voiced, and visualized with the support of artificial intelligence."
It continued: "This isn't a trick—it's a mirror. An ongoing artistic provocation designed to challenge the boundaries of authorship, identity, and the future of music itself in the age of AI."
Newsweek
10
Posted on 7/10/25 at 10:14 am to RollTide1987
Dust On the Wind??
The little known follow up to the Kansas classic.....
That should have been your first clue that something wasn't quite right.
The little known follow up to the Kansas classic.....
That should have been your first clue that something wasn't quite right.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 10:14 am to RollTide1987
you should get their album of German bierhaus tunes
Posted on 7/10/25 at 10:15 am to RollTide1987
They from Germany?
Posted on 7/10/25 at 10:15 am to RollTide1987
That's actually a pretty good song lol
Posted on 7/10/25 at 10:16 am to RollTide1987
Again?
Posted on 7/10/25 at 10:17 am to RollTide1987
German AI is the worst. They started out in the tunnels under Baton Rouge.
https://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/display.aspx?sp=119338732&s=1&p=119338732
https://consequence.net/2025/06/the-velvet-sundown-ai-band/
https://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/display.aspx?sp=119338732&s=1&p=119338732
quote:
“The Velvet Sundown aren’t trying to revive the past. They’re rewriting it. They sound like the memory of a time that never actually happened… but somehow they make it feel real.”
quote:
According to their bio, The Velvet Sundown’s music is “’70s psychedelic alt-rock and folk rock,” and the lineup is comprised of four purported “members”: singer and mellotron player Gabe Farrow, guitarist Lennie West, synth player Milo Rains, and percussionist Orion “Rio” Del Mar.
Yet, these members aren’t traceable online beyond the band’s Instagram account, which was started just days ago on June 27th. Some of the photos feature the “members” enjoying burgers to celebrate their second LP’s release, and recreating The Beatles’ Abbey Road album cover (sans one member appearing barefoot).
quote:
There has been growing concern about AI on streaming platforms and beyond. A December report in Harper’s Magazine alleged Spotify is supplementing playlists with “ghost artists” to decrease royalty payouts, while a separate study from the same month suggested music creators could lose up to 24% of their revenue by 2028 due to a lack of protections and policies against AI.
https://consequence.net/2025/06/the-velvet-sundown-ai-band/
quote:
Psych-rock band The Velvet Sundown have garnered over 500,000 monthly Spotify listeners and released two full-length records in a single month, with a third on the way this July. While this rapid rise would be impressive for any music act, it appears the group may be a product of generative AI.
As one Twitter user pointed out, The Velvet Sundown have accomplished all of this despite only existing for two weeks. In addition to pumping out albums like there’s no tomorrow, all images posted on their social media accounts appear to have been made with AI. This inspired internet sleuths to investigate the band’s potentially fabricated origins.
The yellow-tinted, smoothed-over, and hyperrealistic nature of The Velvet Sundown’s press photos strongly hints at the use of AI, but little information is available about the group beyond their Spotify artist page.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 10:17 am to RollTide1987
Milli Vanilli had no comment
Posted on 7/10/25 at 11:04 am to Shexter
That guitarist is Earl Hickey with the eyes closed in every photo
Posted on 7/10/25 at 11:11 am to Shexter
Milli Vanilli would have loved this timeline.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 11:17 am to Shexter
Posted in the other thread on this but if you look at their instruments you can tell they’re not real in the photos.
For instance, how’s the electric guitar guy going to tune his top string?
And the other guy has a coveted 5 string acoustic.
For instance, how’s the electric guitar guy going to tune his top string?
And the other guy has a coveted 5 string acoustic.
This post was edited on 7/10/25 at 11:19 am
Posted on 7/10/25 at 11:19 am to RollTide1987
Posted on 7/10/25 at 11:51 am to RollTide1987
The real scandal/conspiracy of it all is that Spotify itself is probably behind it. They don't have to pay royalties to AI. The more AI content they can dilute their library with, the less royalties they have to pay out. Think about it like filler in a crab cake or watering down a margarita.
ETA- the only way a band can come out of nowhere and go from non-existence to 1.2 Mil in a month is with strong algorithm pushing by Spotify.
ETA- the only way a band can come out of nowhere and go from non-existence to 1.2 Mil in a month is with strong algorithm pushing by Spotify.
This post was edited on 7/10/25 at 11:54 am
Posted on 7/10/25 at 12:28 pm to RollTide1987
If I didn’t know better I’d think it was Chris Stapleton.
I’m sure this is gonna be impactful to the music industry and shake the business up just like Napster did when it came out.
I’m sure this is gonna be impactful to the music industry and shake the business up just like Napster did when it came out.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 7:51 pm to Boondock Saint
quote:
Dust On the Wind??
The little known follow up to the Kansas classic.....
I got an exclusive peek at their follow up album
quote:
Message On A Bottle
Back On Black
Dancing On the Dark
Another Brick On The Wall, Pt. 2
On The Air Tonight
Can't Help Falling On Love
Genie On a Bottle
Born On the U.S.A.
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