A 70s-inspired psychedelic folk rock band known as “The Velvet Sundown” has been turning heads online after releasing three albums and garnering hundreds of thousands of listeners on Spotify in just over a month. The group seemingly appeared out of nowhere, with no prior digital footprint or evidence of their existence elsewhere.
None of the four musicians named on their various social media accounts seem to have an existence outside of the band, lacking any public appearances or digital presence. This, as well as the seemingly AI-generated images featured prominently on their platforms, led to many accusations regarding the use of AI in the creation of their music.
These claims would later seemingly prove to be true when the band’s supposed spokesman explained to the Rolling Stones that they use the popular AI music generation platform Suno to generate their music. Although they would later deny this on their Spotify account, and the “spokesperson” would turn out to be an imposter, the group has since confirmed their usage of AI.
As stated on their Spotify page, “All characters, stories, music, voices, and lyrics are original creations generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools employed as creative instruments.”
They exploit their ability to produce a constant stream of new music by flooding Spotify’s algorithms with their content, continually forcing themselves into listeners’ feeds. They, and hundreds of other bands whose content is created entirely by AI, exist entirely to make a quick buck.
AI music generation is more accessible than ever. AI models like Suno and OpenAI’s Jukebox are trained to replicate hundreds of styles and genres in a matter of minutes, complete with vocals and full instrumentals, nearly indistinguishable from human-made music. On an individual basis, although morally questionable, AI-generated music is generally harmless. However, The Velvet Sundown makes an estimated 18,000 dollars a month off of AI content, which can only be achieved due to Spotify’s ambiguous policies on AI.
As stated by Spotify’s CEO and co-founder, Daniel Ek, tools like Autotune, which don’t create music but help with the creative process, will be allowed. Where Ek draws the line is at artificial intelligence used to impersonate or copy artists. This, however, leaves a massive grey area regarding music inspired by an artist.
The Velvet Sundown, despite clearly being influenced by just about every 70s folk rock band out there, isn’t technically impersonating anyone in particular.
Other streaming platforms have instituted policies to clarify these grey areas. Alternative streaming sites like Deezer and Soundcloud have introduced systems that automatically detect and flag AI-generated content, notifying listeners and preventing it from making its way into recommended feeds.
Despite all of this, Spotify still reports that AI is of no threat to the platform and does not plan to implement such features. As written by a Spotify spokesperson regarding the flagging of AI content, “Spotify doesn’t police the tools artists use in their creative process. We believe artists and producers should be in control… Our platform policies focus on how music is presented to listeners, and we actively work to protect against deception, impersonation, and spam.”
These cryptic responses and vague regulations are slowly turning Spotify into a haven for AI. As the number of AI-driven bands on the platform continues to grow unchecked, Spotify has made their stance clear through their inability to address the problem.