Image loan: The Velvet Sundown (band) – official X account
Entry
In recent days, the music industry has witnessed an avalanche of headers surrounding a music band called Welvet Sundown. Reason? The band may not be a real band at all, and his music can be generated AI. In fact, the growing consensus is such that it is almost certainly so.
In this article, he looks at the controversy surrounding this “band” and reflects the impact it can have, and actions that can be taken in imaginative industries, such as music, to relieve the negative effects of the content generated by AI, which can still become viral on popular stream platforms.
About the team and the latest suspicions
The burnt sunset was introduced as a band of mixed psychedelic species and alt-pop, which appeared on Spotify at the beginning of 2025, and so far accumulated from 400,000. Monthly listeners in just a few weeks. At the time of writing the band, he released two albums – Floating to echoes AND Dust and silence. What was seen as surprising – and a bit suspicious – by many is that these two albums were released in just fifteen days from each other, and the third is planned for July 14.
So why is the growing controversy regarding the velvet sunset probably a team generated by AI?
Interestingly, and despite all existing photos of the band looking like the work of artificial intelligence, Velvet Sundown definitely denied that the generation of AI on their account X (previously Twitter), claiming that its four members are real people and that their work is also true. But it didn’t take much time before these claims were examined and dismantled.
Just a few hours before writing this article A Spokesman He admitted that the whole process of the band was the “art of art” and that their music was generated using SNO, tools for creating powered music AI. In the words of the spokesperson:
“[I]Marketing T. is trolling … things that are false, sometimes have even greater impact than things that are real. “
In the days preceding this disclosure and, based on many sources, investigations and surms, the consensus associated with the creation of a team by AI was almost absolute, with several clear guidelines in retrospect.
“Members” Velvet Sundown Music Band | Image source: Aaa behind the scenes
Perhaps one of the most obvious tips that something is happening, are suspiciously looking images of team members on the Internet (see above): they all look similarly stylized and have an “excessively smooth” look with features that share a lot of in common with typical AI generated avatars. Honestly (according to the author), it would be complex not to notice that four men in such photos are not even true: just look at the fingers in the hand holding the guitar.
Suspicuous, there are no human traces of the band, without interviews with the media, concerts, accounts in social media associated with their members, or public presence at all. And this happens despite numerous “photos” of them, even seemingly “on the road”.
In particular, applications such as Deezer, which comprehensively analyze each song sent to their platform, have already described some of the band’s songs as “probably generated AI”. Other detection tools, such as IRCAM Amplify, analyzed songs and marked 10 out of 13 songs with 100% probability of generating AI, plus one of 98% probability, also indicating in Suno as a used generative tool.
Potential effects and influence of music generated by AI
After admitting that some trolling and marketing activities were carried out with the content generated by AI to draw mass attention, we cannot facilitate stop and reflect on the influence of AI tools in today’s music industry.
When projects such as the one that is analyzed can become hits on platforms such as Spotify, it means that the border between human and artificial works could be significantly blurred by questioning the actual value of authenticity and perhaps negatively affecting justified musicians and bands.
From the economic dimension, if such cases appear again, it would be a matter of time before the main stream platforms with synthetic content, thus distorting the playlist, tilting the indicators in favor and affecting the income of real (human) artists. The audience would also tend to distrust of what they listen to, sometimes even affecting the relationship between artists and listeners, from the potential lack of trust in whether what they listen to is true or not.
To say, not everything should be seen as negative in terms of the apply of artificial intelligence in imaginative industries: AI has a chance to be a valuable tool for composing, trying and cooperation, provided that it is always used in solid ethical standards. The platforms of streaming must enforce the noticeable AI label, whenever any path was completely or partially generated AI. Additional methods may be needed to improve the identification of creators, such as the inclusion of tax or personal data, and sophisticated verification methods during authentication. Another critical means provided to protect human artists may be the creation of a legal status that recognizes the rights of established creators, including unfair compensation for competition in the face of synthetically generated content.
Let me end with examples of what regulatory steps some regions take:
- The European Union discusses, under the AI Act, some funds that would require an announcement or generative AI have been used in any cultural content, including music.
- In the United States, a human craftsmanship campaign began to demand transparency and permission to apply the voices and styles of real artists in the work generated by AI.
Application
At present, there is really no doubt that Velvet Sundown is not a real music band, but rather a project powered by AI, which is to undermine the boundaries of art, authenticity and wider consumption of music. Recently awarded by their creators as a “mystification of art”, the band’s case introduces sedate topics of the debate to the table: What should be the value of a musical work that is not directly composed by people? How should the music industry and platforms act against such content generated by AI? The scene is prepared for AI, but will we praise or question the call of the curtain?
Ultimately, the Velvet Sunddown band seems to really hit the right notes … controversy.
IVán Palomares Carrascosa He is a leader, writer, speaker and advisor in artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning and LLM. He trains and runs others, using artificial intelligence in the real world.