Unmasking The Velvet Sundown: A Viral Sensation Created by Artificial Intelligence

The truth is out: a recently popular Spotify band is entirely AI-generated, confirming many suspicions.

Who or What is The Velvet Sundown?

The Velvet Sundown, a newly emerged musical act, has rapidly gained popularity on Spotify, accumulating an impressive one million monthly listeners within a short period. This is a remarkable achievement for a group producing music described as standard psych-rock with folk-rock influences. While not groundbreaking, its appeal has propelled the band into the limelight and subjected it to intense scrutiny regarding its AI origins.

The AI Origin of The Velvet Sundown: A Suspicion Confirmed

Recent updates to The Velvet Sundown’s Spotify artist profile confirm what many, including this writer, had already suspected: the band is completely AI-generated. The project is presented as an artistic endeavor aimed at questioning the definitions of authorship, identity, and the future of music in the AI era.

Signs of AI creation were readily apparent. The band photos exhibit a characteristic AI-generated appearance, even with post-processing. Though edits attempt to mitigate imperfections inherent to AI image generation, a familiar style remains—uniform textures, a yellowish tone, and an artificial, almost overly-perfect look. Furthermore, the band members’ appearances differ across images, mirroring the inconsistencies in the lead singer’s vocals across tracks.

The band’s sudden emergence and the rapid release of two full studio albums, with a third imminent, are also noteworthy. Such speed is unusual, particularly given the perceived quality of The Velvet Sundown’s music.

The Enduring Presence of The Velvet Sundown and AI Music

Despite the revelation of its AI origins, The Velvet Sundown continues to release music. The band’s popularity is intriguing for several reasons. Its relatively unremarkable music, a blend of classic 1970s psych/folk rock, is easily palatable and conducive to extended listening.

Its lyrics are simple, memorable, and inoffensive, contributing to its broad appeal. For instance, the popular song “Dust on the Wind” is vaguely patriotic and slightly militaristic, but avoids anything controversial.

However, suspicions remain that The Velvet Sundown’s success might be partly due to the use of Spotify’s listening bots, a known problem for the platform. It is plausible that the band’s creators employed these bots to artificially inflate their statistics and gain access to high-profile playlists.

The increasing presence of AI music on Spotify, with the platform actively promoting some AI artists, further highlights this issue. This raises concerns about transparency and the labeling of AI-generated content. The lack of an opt-out mechanism for AI music underscores the platform’s proactive approach.

A Turning Point in Music Discovery

The success of The Velvet Sundown represents a pivotal moment in the music industry. The ability of an AI-generated band to amass millions of streams and secure spots on curated playlists questions the prospects for emerging human musicians. This raises important questions about transparency and the future of music discovery in an era defined by AI-generated content. The rise of AI music is not a temporary trend; it’s a significant shift in the landscape of music.