Music lovers already had their suspicions about The Velvet Sundown, a new psych-rock band who have been racking up thousands of plays on the major streaming platforms over the past month or so.
The four-piece rock outfit were attracting 850,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, and seem to be extraordinarily prolific – even though no one had heard of them just a few months ago. Just how many bands are capable of writing, recording and releasing two albums in one month? Floating on Echoes came out on June 5 and the follow-up, Dust and Silence a fortnight later with a another one, Paper Sun Rebellion due out next week.
The Velvet Sundown, where nothing is real
Even the title of the new album seems suspect. Perhaps a cheeky nod to Traffic’s sunshine pop psychedelia 1968 hit – or a direct, unashamed lift, something which Copilot might come up with.
Many users started to question whether The Velvet Sundown‘s material was AI-generated – with lyrics written by ChatGPT, as phony and fake as the promo photos of the supposed band members: Gabe Farrow, Lennie West, Milo Rains and Orion ‘Rio’ Del Mar.
There are no interviews with the band, no concerts, live performances or tours and all the writing, production credits mention the band’s name only. So is The Velvet Sundown a real band or not?
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The blurb on the band’s socials claim they are “Not quite human. Not quite machine. The Velvet Sundown lives somewhere in between”. It adds that the project is: “an ongoing artistic provocation designed to challenge the boundaries of authorship, identity, and the future of music itself in the age of AI”.
It has since been revealed that the band’s X account, which only has 300 followers, is also fake.
A number of high-profile musicians have spoken out about the dangers of AI-generated music, which blurs the lines between mimicry and blatant plagiarism. There are genuine concerns on how it will impact an industry that has already seen artists hammered by the pitiful royalties offered by streaming services.
The Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA) now requires artists to declare if AI was used in the creation of a song.
Songs involving AI will not be eligible for copyright registration and if AI use is falsely denied, KOMCA may suspend royalties or remove the work. pic.twitter.com/4pdSxztwUZ
— Pop Base (@PopBase) April 1, 2025
Musicians warn of the dangers of AI-generated music
Last year, 200 artists, including Stevie Wonder, Robert Smith, Billie Eilish, R.E.M. Elvis Costello, Smokey Robinson and the estates of Bob Marley and Frank Sinatra signed an open letter submitted by the Artist Rights Alliance to alert of the dangers of going down the AI route.
It read: “Some platforms and developers are employing AI to sabotage creativity and undermine artists, songwriters, musicians and rightsholders. Unchecked, AI will set in motion a race to the bottom that will degrade the value of our work and prevent us from being fairly compensated for it. This assault on human creativity must be stopped. We must protect against the predatory use of AI to steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses, violate creators’ rights, and destroy the music ecosystem”.
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