‘We’re AI,’ popular indie rock band admits

John Vennavally-Rao reports on AI-created songs going viral and the accompanying debate over whether they should be clearly labeled for music fans.

Paris, France -- An indie rock band with more than a million monthly listeners on Spotify has owned up to being an AI-generated music project following days of speculation about whether the group was real.

Named Velvet Sundown -- seemingly a nod to Lou Reed’s band The Velvet Underground -- the digital group has become a viral hit, generating ferocious online discussion after racking up hundreds of thousands of listens.

An updated Spotify profile, consulted on Tuesday by AFP, admitted that the group was an “ongoing artistic provocation.”

“All characters, stories, music, voices and lyrics are original creations generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools employed as creative instruments,” Velvet Sundown’s profile added.

Recently created social media profiles, featuring photos of the group that look suspiciously fake, have teased readers about the group’s origins, offering often contradictory information.

Experts have long warned about the dangers of AI-image, video and music generators blurring the lines between the real and fake.

A major study in December by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), which represents more than five million creators worldwide, warned about the danger of AI-generated music.

It forecast that artists could see their incomes shrink by more than 20 percent in the next four years as the market for AI-composed music grows.

Stockholm-based streamer Spotify declined to comment directly about Velvet Sundown when contacted by AFP.

Spokeswoman Geraldine Igou wrote that the platform does not “prioritize or benefit financially from music created using AI tools.”

“All tracks are created, owned, and uploaded by licensed third parties,” Igou insisted.

Rival music streaming service Deezer displayed a warning for “AI-generated content” for Velvet Sundown.

“Some tracks on this album may have been created using artificial intelligence,” it said.

The Spotify rival has an AI-music detection tool that is able to identify songs generated using popular software models such as Suno and Udio.

Deezer said in April that it was receiving more than 20,000 fully AI-generated tracks on a daily basis, comprising 18 percent of all uploaded content, an increase from the previously reported 10 percent in January.

Reports on Tuesday said an imposter posing as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been using AI-generated voice and text messages to high-level officials and foreign ministers.