Out of the blue, a band called The Velvet Sundown exploded onto Spotify, racking up close to a million monthly listeners in just a few weeks. Their tunes are being described as a trippy, psychedelic rock. But here’s the kicker: behind those guitar licks and mysterious vocals, there’s a big conundrum—no one’s quite sure if this band is actually real.
Spotify’s open-door policy was the perfect playground for The Velvet Sundown. Dropping two albums, Floating on Echoes and Dust and Silence, in early June, their tunes spread like wildfire. With a ‘70s-inspired alt-rock sound laced with a bit of folk, their songs are polished but not flashy—ideal for chilling in the background. Spotify’s algorithm, which cares more about sound vibes than whether a band’s legit, pushed their tracks onto big playlists. Former Spotify data guru Glenn McDonald pointed out how the platform’s love for paid playlist spots and algorithmic picks likely fueled the band’s crazy-fast rise. Without needing gigs or a real-world presence, their music racked up over 900,000 monthly streams by July 7.
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The secret? An AI music tool called Suno, which spits out full songs from simple prompts. Deezer’s detection flagged The Velvet Sundown’s tracks as 100% AI-made, with telltale signs: crisp production, cookie-cutter lyrics, and vocals that sound almost human. Their Spotify bio, listing four members—Gabe Farrow, Lennie West, Milo Rains, and Orion “Rio” Del Mar—reads like it was cooked up by a chatbot, full of vague talk about “conjuring worlds” and “drifting into music.”
Things got weirder with Andrew Frelon, a mysterious figure claiming to be the band’s spokesperson. In chats with Rolling Stone and others, Frelon said The Velvet Sundown leaned on Suno, hyping the AI angle. Then, days later, he fessed up on X, admitting he was a prankster with no real tie to the band, just stirring the pot to mess with the media. His X account, once linked to the band, got a quick “parody” rebrand after the official Velvet Sundown Spotify page called him out.
Spotify’s chill stance on AI content set the stage. Unlike Deezer, which labels AI tracks and keeps them out of algorithmic boosts, Spotify doesn’t ask for AI disclosure. This, plus its playlist-driven discovery, was a perfect storm for The Velvet Sundown. Their song “Dust on the Wind,” with over a million plays, even snuck into a Kylie Jenner TikTok makeup video. Critics say this setup screws over human artists, since AI tracks—cheap to make and easy to flood playlists with—could hog royalty pools.
Their bio calls them a “provocation,” poking at ideas of “authorship, identity, and the future of music.” But as The Atlantic put it, their stuff feels “weirdly safe”—not mind-blowing or edgy, just oddly solid. That middle-of-the-road vibe is their superpower: AI can nail mainstream appeal without the chaos of human creativity. With a third album dropping July 11, The Velvet Sundown’s not slowing down, leaving everyone wondering where the line between art and algorithm really sits.
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