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"There's not a shred of evidence on the internet that this band has ever existed": This apparently AI-generated artist (Velvet Sundown) is racking up hundreds of thousands of Spotify streams
Music Radar ^ | June 27, 2025 | Matt Mullen

Posted on 07/01/2025 5:39:56 PM PDT by DoodleBob

…Smuggled into popular playlists and hidden in plain sight among authentic, well-known tracks, AI-generated artists with fake photos, ChatGPT-generated biographies and no genuine fans to speak of are picking up hundreds of thousands of streams.

One such artist is The Velvet Sundown, a band with almost 350,000 monthly Spotify listeners but no discernible online presence or social media accounts. ("There's not a shred of evidence on the internet that this band has ever existed," as one Redditor put it.) While we can't confirm that the band's music is AI-generated, a glance at their artist image and bio should be enough to persuade even the least skeptical observer.

"The Velvet Sundown don’t just play music — they conjure worlds," reads the group's Spotify profile, which we're about 99% certain has been authored by ChatGPT. "Somewhere between the ghost of Laurel Canyon and the echo of a Berlin warehouse, this four-piece band bends time, fusing 1970s psychedelic textures with cinematic alt-pop and dreamy analog soul."

The biography tellingly states that the band's music "feels like a hallucination you want to stay lost in," their live shows playing like "lucid dreams" and their albums "unfolding like lost soundtracks to films that were never made". There's even a seemingly bogus quote from Billboard rounding things off, claiming that the band "sound like the memory of something you never lived, and somehow make it feel real”.

Velvet Sundown tracks have been identified in more than 30 popular playlists created by anonymous curator accounts, and have even begun popping up in Spotify users' Discover Weekly, personalized playlists generated by the platform's recommendation algorithm. The band's music has also been uploaded to Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube and Deezer, the latter's AI detection tool flagging The Velvet Sundown's music as potentially AI-generated.

(Excerpt) Read more at musicradar.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet; Society
KEYWORDS: ai; aiand; aiband; velvet; velvetsundown
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To: 31R1O

Ok, that was funny.


21 posted on 07/01/2025 7:01:10 PM PDT by sauropod (Make sure Satan has to climb over a lot of Scripture to get to you. John MacArthur Ne supra crepidam)
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To: Ezekiel

They are lined up in exactly the same order in all 3 pictures. That’s about a 3% chance of happening in real life.


22 posted on 07/01/2025 7:01:13 PM PDT by John Milner (Marching for Peace is like breathing for food.)
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To: metmom

Central Casting or “Binders Full of 35 y/o Men”, to use Mitt Romney’s old phrase.


23 posted on 07/01/2025 7:02:28 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: newfreep

missed your earlier post. [blush]


24 posted on 07/01/2025 7:03:33 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (NeverTrumpers are Republicans the same way Liz Cheney is a Republican.)
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PROOF The Velvet Sundown Is 100% REAL! AI SCAM? Nope
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yFnNtHu-H8

https://x.com/Velvet_Sundown


25 posted on 07/01/2025 7:05:31 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (NeverTrumpers are Republicans the same way Liz Cheney is a Republican.)
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Could be the whole “this is an AI band” was dreamed up to promote interest in the band. Those old enough remember how the band Klaatu was claimed to be a surreptitious reunion of the Beatles.


26 posted on 07/01/2025 7:07:36 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (NeverTrumpers are Republicans the same way Liz Cheney is a Republican.)
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To: DoodleBob

Did Slim Whitman file a complaint?


27 posted on 07/01/2025 7:16:58 PM PDT by BobL
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To: John Milner

The more ya look, the weirder it gets.

What’s with the life preservers? Getting ahead of BTTF?

All sorts of oddities in that one.


28 posted on 07/01/2025 7:17:02 PM PDT by Ezekiel (🆘️ "Come fly with US". 🔴 Ingenuity -- because the Son of David begins with MARS ♂️, aka every man)
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To: SunkenCiv

Well…since I posed it, I can assure you, no.

It popped up on my LinkedIn feed today. It looks like someone figured out this band’s fakery a few days ago. Now EVERYONE is writing about it.

Including us.

They look as real as a Kamala Harris rally.


29 posted on 07/01/2025 7:21:34 PM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s²)
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To: DoodleBob

"Those MFers are NOT REAL!!!" (some woman on a plane, probably)


30 posted on 07/01/2025 7:36:25 PM PDT by chud
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To: Lazamataz

ping


31 posted on 07/01/2025 7:38:15 PM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: DoodleBob

https://youtu.be/23aaZKE6Cbk?si=e7X3j-08gfY5XKdU

Someone asked AI to make a country song and this is what it came up with.


32 posted on 07/01/2025 7:50:30 PM PDT by dznutz
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To: DoodleBob
They aren't the first band that didn't exist. These tunes were recorded by studio musicians, but when they became hits, they had to find musicians to form bands so they could be performed live.

Leader of the Laundromat--The Detergents (1964)

My World Fell Down--Sagittarius (1967)

Make Believe--Wind (1969)

Candida--Dawn (1970)

33 posted on 07/01/2025 8:24:38 PM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: DoodleBob

interesting


34 posted on 07/01/2025 8:26:57 PM PDT by fso301
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To: Fiji Hill

The Monkees sort of fit that bill, too.


35 posted on 07/01/2025 8:40:39 PM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s²)
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To: Fiji Hill
These tunes were recorded by studio musicians, but when they became hits, they had to find musicians to form bands so they could be performed live.

Don't Forget "Na, Na, Hey, Hey" (Kiss Him Goodbye) -- Steam
36 posted on 07/01/2025 9:16:21 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana (<i>"Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye." (John 2:5))
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To: lee martell
“Why does that bother you?” will be the reply.

Rick Beato is having fits on his channel about AI-generated music and he thinks the technology should be outlawed. He knows they'll be less demand for human songwriters and music producers. We don't need elevator operators too, Rick.

37 posted on 07/01/2025 10:21:10 PM PDT by Right_Wing_Madman
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To: DoodleBob
Totally AI but I'll be damned if this isn't a banger!

King Willonius - Hawk Tuah (Spit On That Thang)


38 posted on 07/01/2025 10:26:33 PM PDT by Drew68 (I haven’t seen the Democrats this mad since yesterday. Save some tears for tomorrow.)
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To: DoodleBob

Truth vs AI


39 posted on 07/01/2025 10:30:00 PM PDT by linMcHlp
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To: newfreep

Too funny.
I’ll check out Beato Videos later.👍


40 posted on 07/01/2025 10:41:18 PM PDT by MotorCityBuck (Keep the change, you are filthy animal !!s)
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