For weeks, millions of Spotify users streamed the nostalgic folk-rock tracks of the Velvet Sundown, a mysterious new band with a ‘60s flair and poetic anti-war lyrics.
But behind the mellow guitar strums and dreamy harmonies was not a group of human musicians—but a fully AI-generated act.
The band’s debut album “Floating on Echoes” dropped on 5 June and quickly took off.
One track, “Dust on the Wind”, climbed to the top of Spotify’s Viral 50 chart in the UK, Sweden and Norway between 29 June and 1 July.
The act soon gained more than one million monthly listeners.
Listeners were captivated by the group’s peaceful sound, which resembled the style of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
Many, however, didn’t notice the clues: odd promotional photos with distorted hands and overly smooth faces, and lyrics that felt a little too familiar, like:
"Nothin’ lasts forever but the earth and sky, it slips away, and all your money won’t another minute buy.”
As buzz around the band grew, questions followed.
Fans and journalists began investigating who was behind the Velvet Sundown—only to find no trace of any real people connected to the project.
The mystery deepened when a self-proclaimed “adjunct” member told reporters that the songs were made using the AI music platform Suno and described the act as an “art hoax”.
Adding to the chaos, a web safety researcher from Quebec posed as the group’s publicist under the alias Andrew Frelon, even feeding fabricated details to “Rolling Stone”.
He later admitted to trolling the media for fun.
Eventually, the band’s official channels updated their Spotify bio, confirming what many suspected.
“The Velvet Sundown is a synthetic music project guided by human creative direction, and composed, voiced, and visualized with the support of artificial intelligence.
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 AI.”
The reveal has reignited industry-wide debate about how AI is used in music—and whether platforms like Spotify should be more transparent.
Spotify currently has no requirement to label AI-generated content.
According to its spokesperson, the music platform does not give priority to AI-made tracks.
“All music on Spotify, including AI-generated music, is created, owned and uploaded by licensed third parties.”
Other platforms are moving differently.
Deezer’s chief innovation officer, Aurélien Hérault, confirmed the company is using detection software to tag AI-generated songs and said up to 70% of streams for such content are fraudulent.
“For a period of time, what I call the ‘naturalisation of AI’, we need to inform users when it’s used or not.”
Meanwhile, YouTube has announced it will stop monetising AI-generated content starting 15 July.
Industry figures have voiced concern about the legal and ethical implications of AI-made music, especially when it mimics human creativity without consent or compensation.
Roberto Neri, CEO of the Ivors Academy, said bands like the Velvet Sundown raise “serious concerns around transparency, authorship and consent”.
He warned that, without regulation, creators risk being left behind while tech firms profit.
Sophie Jones, chief strategy officer at the British Phonographic Industry, echoed those concerns.
“We believe that AI should be used to serve human creativity, not supplant it.”
She urged the UK government to introduce new laws requiring copyright protections and transparency.
Writer Liz Pelly pointed to the potential harm to independent artists.
She recalled a 2023 case where an AI-made track mimicked the voices of Drake and The Weeknd, sparking legal backlash from Universal Music Group.
Pelly said,
“We need to make sure that it’s not just pop stars whose interests are being looked after. All artists should have the ability to know if their work has been exploited.”
Despite the controversy, the Velvet Sundown hasn’t slowed down.
The group released a second album “Dust and Silence” later in June and is expected to release another this month.
The speed and volume of releases—unnatural for any real band—have only intensified debate over how AI is reshaping the creative landscape.
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