US EditionThe Velvet Sundown’s Shaggy Retro-Rock Has Attracted 750,000 Listeners — but Is It All an AI Hoax?
- The Velvet Sundown, a self-proclaimed indie rock band, gained over 700,000 Spotify listeners before admitting its music was generated using the AI app Suno in 2025.
- The band initially denied AI use and distanced itself from spokesperson Andrew Frelon, who later revealed the project was a deliberate media hoax to test digital authenticity.
- The Velvet Sundown's AI-generated music featured on major playlists despite lacking real members or social presence, highlighting Spotify's algorithmic shift toward audio-driven recommendations.
- RIAA and major labels sued AI startups like Suno over copyright infringement, while industry voices debate how to fairly license, label, and regulate AI music amid ethical and economic concerns.
- The Velvet Sundown case underscores 2025 as pivotal for establishing rules on AI-generated music's legal status, ownership, transparency, and its impact on human creators and the music industry.
15 Articles
15 Articles
Is Spotify's hottest new band even real?
A band named The Velvet Sundown has drawn intense scrutiny after its music gained hundreds of thousands of streams on Spotify, despite virtually no public presence or verifiable identity, reports the BBC. The group, which has more than 850,000 monthly listeners and a verified Spotify page, emerged online several weeks ago. Yet none of the four named musicians have granted interviews, appear to have social media accounts, or have performed live. …
Creator of "Indie Band" Who Insisted It Wasn't AI-Generated Just Admitted the Truth
A "band" that sparked a heated debate for heavily relying on generative AI — and still somehow accumulating over half a million listeners on Spotify — has finally admitted the truth. Earlier this week, a self-proclaimed "indie rock band" called The Velvet Sundown claimed on its "official" X account that it "never" used any AI, accusing "so-called 'journalists'" of "pushing the lazy, baseless theory that The Velvet Sundown is 'AI-generated' with …
Banda has music, albums and letters, but no concrete sign of its integration exists.
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 60% of the sources lean Left
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
