They got 1 million plays on Spotify but they weren't real

Velvet Sundown, a band that quickly racked up over 1 million streams on Spotify, turned out to be an AI-generated project that didn't actually exist. The band sparked a major controversy by announcing that everything from their music and promotional visuals to their backstory was entirely AI-generated.

'ARTISTIC SCAM'

The band, which released two albums in June, "Floating On Echoes" and "Dust And Silence," attracted attention with its Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young-style country-folk music. Initially, band officials denied the AI claims. However, someone identifying himself as "an associate member" later revealed that the songs were generated by an AI platform called Suno and that the project was an "artistic scam."

According to the Guardian, Velvet Sundown's social media accounts first denied this statement, then admitted that the project was indeed AI-based, stating, "We are neither fully human nor fully machine; we live somewhere in between."

CALL FOR LEGAL REGULATION

In response to these developments, music industry experts have called for legal regulations to label AI-generated music, stating that listeners need to know what they're listening to. Roberto Neri, CEO of Ivors Academy, criticized the situation, saying, "AI groups reaching large audiences without human creators pose serious problems in terms of transparency, copyright, and approval."

Sophie Jones of the British Phonographic Industry stated that the ethical use of AI can enhance human creativity, but emphasized that without transparency, copyrights are violated and artists suffer. Jones said, "AI should not replace human creativity; it should support it."

Music critic Liz Pelly, on the other hand, said that independent artists' work could be used without permission to train AI systems, and that all artists, not just pop stars, are victims. She cited the example of an AI song created in 2023 imitating Drake and The Weeknd's voices, which was quickly removed from platforms.

NOT LABELED AS AI

Spotify does not currently label content as AI-generated and has previously been criticized for featuring music from “ghost artists” in its playlists. The company maintains that all music uploaded to the platform is created by licensed third parties and that AI content is not prioritized.

Deezer, on the other hand, uses software to identify and label AI-generated content. Aurélien Hérault, the company's innovation manager, described this period as a period of "naturalization of AI," saying that for now, users should be informed.

However, according to Deezer data, 70 percent of AI-generated songs on the platform are supported by fake streams, demonstrating that ethical and transparency issues related to AI in the music industry are reaching serious levels not only in creation but also in distribution.