The Velvet Sundown, an indie psych rock band with a verified profile on Spotify, has been accused of releasing music generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
Claims have also been made that the band, who have over 850,000 monthly listeners on the streaming platform, are themselves a product of AI, reigniting concerns about the use of generative models in the industry.
The band’s Spotify page claimed that they were a four-piece consisting of singer “Gabe Farrow”, guitarist “Lennie West”, bassist “Milo Rains” and percussionist “Orion ‘Rio’ Del Mar”.
In June, The Velvet Sundown released two albums, “Floating on Echoes” and “Dust and Silence”, sparking confusion as to how the group have become so popular in the space of a month.
While the group have denied the accusations on social media, none of its four members have spoken in interviews or possess individual social media profiles. There is also no record of the band having performed live.
Promotional photos of the band have also been accused of being AI-generated.
Earlier this week, Rolling Stone reported that a spokesperson for the band, Andrew Frelon, had told them that The Velvet Sundown used the AI tool Suno to generate their music.
On Thursday, the magazine then revealed that the spokesman was himself a hoax after he admitted to releasing fake material in a post on the publishing platform Medium.
Frelon said: “We live in a world now where things that are fake have sometimes even more impact than things that are real. And that’s messed up, but that’s the reality that we face now. So it’s like, ‘Should we ignore that reality? Should we ignore these things that kind of exist on a continuum of real versus fake or kind of a blend between the two? Or should we dive into it and just let it be the emerging native language of the internet?’”
A statement on the band's Spotify says that the group has "no affiliation with this individual [Frelon], nor any evidence confirming their identity or existence."
It added: “Someone is attempting to hijack the identity of The Velvet Sundown by releasing unauthorised interviews, publishing unrelated photos, and creating fake profiles claiming to represent us - none of which are legitimate, accurate, or connected in any way to us.”
But rival streaming service Deezer has said its AI detector tool found the band’s music to be “100 per cent AI-generated”.
While many artists have spoken out about the use of AI in the industry, Spotify’s CEO, Daniel Ek, told the BBC that he would not ban AI-generated music from the service.
Sir Elton John and Dua Lipa, alongside their supporters in the House of Lords, have attempted to persuade the government to feature AI and copyright in new laws for data use and access.
The high-profile artists were ultimately unsuccessful, although the government has said it is conducting a discussion about AI and its connections to copyright.
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