Music, AI and... Velvet Sundown

Velvet Sundown released their debut album, Floating on Echoes, on June 5 and quickly appeared on a series of popular Spotify playlists, attracting hundreds of thousands of listens. From June 29 to July 1, the song "Dust on the Wind" from this album rose to the top of the Spotify Viral 50 chart in the UK, Norway, and Sweden. After more than a month, the band had more than 1 million listens on Spotify.

At first glance, the band’s rise to fame seems like an inspiring musical story. But the lack of solid information about the band members raises doubts. The slick imagery, cliched lyrics, and eerily perfect vocals leave many wondering, “Is this real?”

According to the Washington Post (USA), until the band confirmed that all the music was created by artificial intelligence (AI) “under the creative direction of humans”, it completely changed the perspective. By calling their project “a mirror” and “a continuous artistic act to challenge the boundaries of copyright, identity and the future of music in the age of AI”, the creators of Velvet Sundown do not seem to be trying to fool anyone, but are raising big questions about the nature of art such as fairness, emotion and the role of humans in composition.

AI-generated image of the band Velvet Sundown, via the band's official Instagram account. Photo: VELVET SUNDOWN

The admission of the truth about Velvet Sundown ended nearly three weeks of speculation. Shortly after the band began to attract media attention, a web user calling himself Andrew Frelon claimed to be the band’s spokesperson and provided conflicting information about the use of AI to Rolling Stone magazine. The press interviewed Frelon but failed to verify his true connection to Velvet Sundown. Then, Frelon, who describes himself as a cybersecurity expert living in Quebec, Canada, posted a lengthy post on Medium, admitting that he had impersonated the band on Twitter just to tease people who were outraged by an AI band.

Velvet Sundown itself doesn’t offer answers, instead forcing listeners, platforms, and the music industry to confront the gray area between art, algorithm, and creative intent. Whether it’s a gimmick or a glimpse into the future of music, the band’s success is undeniable. It gets people listening and talking. The persuasiveness of Velvet Sundown’s music is also controversial, but it’s a sobering reality. For example, Steven Hyden, author of Twilight of the Gods: A Journey to the End of Classic Rock, heard Dust on the Wind and felt like it was a parody of “gentle,” low-key Los Angeles bands. “There are a lot of bands out there trying to recreate the spirit of late 60s, early 70s folk rock as faithfully as possible… If someone played me Dust on the Wind without telling me anything, I wouldn’t have any reason to suspect it was fake, I’d just think it was a band imitating the old style, making a song that sounded okay,” says Steven Hyden.

But Jamie Jones, an electrical engineer from Manchester, England, who stumbled upon the band’s music through recommendation algorithms on a music streaming platform, was different. At first, he was convinced that Dust on the Wind was sung by humans. Now that he knows, he hopes Spotify will stop including AI-powered songs in playlists without clearly labeling them. “If you put five songs from the same AI band in a playlist, and Spotify knows it’s AI, then they’re taking away opportunities, even food, from people who are trying to make a living from music,” Jones said. Others, however, don’t mind the fact that the music is AI-powered, because for them, the important thing is the feeling the song brings.

Regardless, Velvet Sundown is a striking example of how AI is reshaping the music industry, not just behind the scenes but right at the heart of creativity. Spotify did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

VIET KHUE

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/am-nhac-ai-va-velvet-sundown-post803554.html