AI-Generated Band Gets Over 1Million Spotify Listeners in Just Two Weeks

AI-generated Psych-rock band The Velvet Sundown didn’t exist two weeks ago, but today they boast over half a million listeners on Spotify and are getting to put out their third album.

The Velvet Sundown is either the hardest-working and most inspired rock group ever, or they are simply playing by different rules. The psych-rock band appeared out of nowhere two weeks ago, but managed to put out to albums and has already announced that the third will be released on Spotify soon. They already boast a respectable 500,000 monthly listeners on the popular music streaming platform and show no signs of slowing down. But the overnight success and record-breaking album release schedule drew attention to the band this week, with many accusing The Velvet Sundown of being an AI-generated gimmick. And, truth be told, all the signs point to that being the case.

First of all, the photos posted on the music group’s Instagram appear to have been made with AI. Then there is the fact that the names of the band members – Gabe Farrow, guitarist Lennie West, synth player Milo Rains, and percussionist Orion “Rio” Del Mar – can only be traced to the band’s Instagram account, which appears to have been created at the end of last month. On Deezer, The Velvet Sundown even posted a disclaimer that reads, “Some tracks on this album may have been created using artificial intelligence.”

When news of The Velvet Sundown’s meteoric rise on Spotify first broke out, there was a lot of controversy surrounding its achievements in such a short amount of time, but the people behind the project came out and confirmed that the group is AI-generated.

“The Velvet Sundown is a synthetic music project guided by human creative direction, and composed, voiced, and visualized with the support of artificial intelligence,” the group’s bio now reads. This isn’t a trick — it’s a mirror. An ongoing artistic provocation designed to challenge the boundaries of authorship, identity, and the future of music itself in the age of AII. All characters, stories, music, voices, and lyrics are original creations generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools employed as creative instruments. Any resemblance to actual places, events, or persons — living or deceased — is purely coincidental and unintentional.

The Velvet Sundown’s most popular song on Spotify, “Dust on the Wind,” has way over 500,000 plays on the platform, making it a small hit, and it has been featrued in  popular Spotify playlists like “Vietnam War Music” and “Good Mornings – Happily Positive Music to Start The Day.”

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