Latest news with #AndrewFrelon
The National
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
AI-generated band Velvet Sundown hit 1 million Spotify listeners, but is the music any good?
Under normal circumstances, Velvet Sundown would be a good news story. The band released three full-length albums only weeks apart, amassing more than a million monthly Spotify listeners, all while their tracks landed on popular mood-based playlists. At a time when few new rock bands are breaking through, their arrival stands out. There's only one complication – the band aren't real. At least, not in the traditional sense. There are no verified photos of all four members, no live shows, no interviews and no clear production credits. The backstory grew murkier on July 2 when an 'adjunct' member named Andrew Frelon told Rolling Stone that Velvet Sundown had used the generative AI platform Suno to create their songs, describing the project as an 'art hoax'. Three days later, the band's official Instagram and X accounts responded, initially denying Frelon's claims and stating that their identity was being 'hijacked', before confirming that the group is indeed AI-generated, but that they are 'not quite human, not quite machine'. But the point of this review isn't to play detective and spot the musical equivalent of the em dash. It's to ask, even if this music were made by machines, is it actually any good? Floating on Echoes and Dust and Silence and Paper Sun Rebellion feel less like distinct records and more like different sides of the same coin. At its algorithmic heart, Velvet Sundown is more a stylistic experiment than a creative expression. They evoke the warm, washed-out tones of 1970s Laurel Canyon folk – a hazy Americana sound informed by soft guitars, genteel percussion and warm ambience. The references are convincing. But as a listening experience, it wears thin fast. Take Dust on the Wind, currently the band's most-streamed track. It's laid-back, mellow and competently arranged. The bassline rolls along gently, the percussion shuffles lightly behind the guitars and the whole thing lands exactly where it should. While the song has a definite vibe, it's not enough if that's all there is. Drift Beyond the Flame and The Wind Still Knows Our Name follow similar patterns, and after a while, that sameyness starts to set in. And after 20 songs of this, the question stops being about whether they are real and more about why they don't make me feel anything? Part of the answer lies in the vocals. The singer (credited as Gabe Farrow) – or rather the simulated voice – is programmed to sound like a restrained crooner, somewhere between a diet Chris Cornell and Jeff Buckley, but without the risk. Every note falls exactly where it should, like Tetris blocks. Just when a vocal line is begging to be lifted or break slightly, it stops flat as if the air's been cut. You don't hear breath intake, strain or any of the human cracks that gives a performance its vulnerability. The voice never truly soars, and maybe, for now, it can't. The music across the trio of albums, all 39 songs in total, carries the same uniform restraint. The titles suggest emotional weight – End the Pain, Smoke and Silence and Drift Beyond the Flame – but the lyrics rarely move beyond generalities. While criticising an album for vague writing can feel like low-hanging fruit, it's harder to ignore when the genres referenced are built on a tradition of evocative lyrics that are often direct, searing or emotionally grounded. End the Pain promises catharsis but never builds towards anything. Smoke and Silence is filled with empty slogans (raise your voice, break the chain / sing for peace, end the pain), and Dust on the Wind, with its soft tone and strong melody, drifts through pastoral scenes without direction. Even in folk or Americana, genres often known for their ambience and intimacy, there's usually a sense of movement, of intriguing emotional drift. Think of Neil Young's 1970 album After the Gold Rush, a genre cornerstone whose songs sway between togetherness and dissonance. It features tracks such as Southern Man that bristle with urgency, and Don't Let It Bring You Down, which drifts between melancholy and resolve. Or take Joni Mitchell's 1971 album Blue, where A Case of You feels fragile and raw, like it could unravel at any moment. These songs and albums sound intimate, but never inherently inert. With Velvet Sundown, everything sounds nice, but nothing surprises. And for music made by a system designed to predict, maybe that's the only range it can currently produce. This is what makes the band's creator or creators' – they haven't been revealed – choice of genre strange. You'd think AI's full-throttled invasion into popular music would begin on more familiar terrain such as electronic dance music or hip-hop – music built on software, loops and programmed rhythm. But instead, Velvet Sundown is making guitar-based music, and those limits are clear. Rock, folk, Americana – are genres that rely on, or even revel in, human traits – timing that's slightly off, choruses that perhaps run too long and vocals that crack. They're messy in nature. For all the cliches about four chords and a chorus, guitar music works because it's imperfect. AI can sketch the outline, but it can't inject the feeling or attitude that pushes a song somewhere unexpected. Which brings us to the broader problem, not with Velvet Sundown, but with the ecosystem they're presently thriving in. Their success is less about the quality of AI replication and more about how streaming has reshaped what listeners value in music. Playlists used to be about exploration and discovery, and now they are seemingly about consistency. Mood-based curation, such as the unofficial Spotify playlist Good Mornings – Happily Positive Music to the Start the Day featuring Velvet Sundown, has flattened the sonic landscape to the point where a fake song can sit comfortably between works by real, era-defining artists such as The Beatles and Billie Eilish. The result is a listening culture increasingly valuing indistinction. Music becomes background and texture, not narrative or expression. The reported calls by artists and industry to flag or ban AI bands such as Velvet Sundown are understandable. But that's not the only answer. We don't need fewer AI bands, we just need more human ones. Artists who can create music that is, perhaps, as focused as Velvet Sundown's, but with the kind of idiosyncratic touches and emotional expression that only humans can conjure. It's those qualities, more than anything, that have a chance of breaking the algorithm.
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
When AI Bands Fool Half a Million Spotify Listeners
Half a million Spotify listeners just got punked by artificial intelligence. The Velvet Sundown looked like your typical indie darlings—moody band photos, carefully crafted backstory, that perfectly imperfect sound screaming 'we practice in someone's garage.' None of it was real. The photos were AI-generated. The bio was fabricated. The music came from Suno, an AI generator that cranks out radio-ready tracks faster than you can say 'authenticity crisis.' Your favorite streaming algorithm didn't catch it either. Social media sleuths did the heavy lifting, spotting telltale signs of synthetic content while The Velvet Sundown's creators doubled down on their denials. Then Andrew Frelon stepped forward, claiming responsibility for the elaborate hoax designed to expose Spotify's AI blindness. To get more in-depth news and expert analysis on global affairs from WPR, sign up for our free Daily Review newsletter. Plot twist: Frelon later admitted he was lying about his involvement, adding another layer to this digital hall of mirrors. The real creators? Still unknown. Meanwhile, indie band CVCC pulled their entire catalog from Spotify in protest, joining artists who refuse to compete with AI-generated content flooding the platform. Red Flags That Spot AI Music: Suspiciously perfect production quality from 'unknown' artists. Generic band photos that look too polished or slightly off. Limited social media presence or engagement despite high streaming numbers. Vague backstories without specific location details or verifiable history. Songs that sound professionally mixed but lack human imperfections. 'There are no protections against it happening, and probably from Spotify's business point of view it's not even clear that this is a bad thing to be 'protected' against.' — Glenn McDonald, Former Spotify Data Analyst You're essentially paying for a service that can't distinguish between human creativity and algorithmic output—and apparently doesn't want to. This isn't just about one fake band gaming the system. You're witnessing the collapse of digital authenticity in real-time. Every playlist recommendation, every 'discover weekly' suggestion, every artist you stumble across could be synthetic. The technology exists, the platforms won't police it, and the economics favor AI over human capital. Your streaming experience just became a game of 'guess what's real,' and the house always wins.
New York Post
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Rock band with more than 1 million Spotify listeners reveals it's entirely AI-generated — down to the musicians themselves
A fresh new rock band that quickly shot to Spotify's top ranks announced that it's actually wholly generated by artificial intelligence, just one month after its celebrated debut album earned it one million listeners. The '60s-inspired rock-and-roll band, the Velvet Sundown, revealed on Saturday that nothing about it is real after fans of the up-and-coming artists noticed there were virtually no traces of any people associated with it online. Its debut album, 'Floating on Echoes,' was released on June 5 to mass appeal online. Advertisement The most popular song in the album, pro-peace folk rock song 'Dust on the Wind,' clinched the No. 1 spot for Spotify's daily 'Viral 50' chart in Britain, Norway and Sweden between June 29 and July 1. 3 Velvet Sundown gained over 1 million listeners on Spotify. The Velvet Sundown/Facebook All the while, the one million monthly listeners who started following the Velvet Sundown had no idea they were just listening to a mass of artificial intelligence made by fake musicians. Advertisement The photos of the band shared online and featured on the album's cover were unnaturally smooth and matte and the guitarist's hand was wonky with fused fingers gripping his instrument — a classic hallmark of AI-generated images. The band's lyrics, too, were a perfect mesh of generic anti-war sentiments and other clichés like 'Nothin' lasts forever but the earth and sky, it slips away, and all your money won't another minute buy.' The faux rockstars were also pumping out new albums scarily — and inhumanly — fast, releasing two in June alone and another set for mid-July. 3 The AI band released two albums in June alone and another was set for July. Spotify Advertisement The band finally revealed its secret over the weekend. It updated its Spotify biography Saturday to reflect the AI twist, assuring that the project hadn't been trying to bamboozle its audience. '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 biography reads. Advertisement Some people who had seen through the band's ploy early tried to take advantage of its viral success before the truth came out. A Quebec-based web safety expert posed as a spokesperson for the Velvet Sundown under the pseudonym Andrew Frelon, which translates to hornet in French, and even slid false information to Rolling Stone magazine about his supposed clients. But the man behind the Frelon quickly confessed that he was just trying to troll people online. 3 The AI-generated images showed a microphone cord disappearing into a singer's arm, a guitarist's fingers fused together and the headstock of a Stratocaster being the incorrect shape. The Velvet Sundown/Facebook It's unclear if the Velvet Sundown will face any backlash from Spotify or any other platforms where it may be eligible for streaming revenue. Starting on July 15, YouTube announced that it would be cutting all monetization, including advertisements, for any content generated by AI. In late June, popular YouTuber announced a tool that would use AI to make thumbnails for videos. He quickly removed it after receiving backlash for supporting an artificial intelligence engine, which often requires massive amounts of energy that would steadily offset his years of environmental work and reforestation efforts.
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
How a Canadian's AI hoax duped the media and propelled a 'band' to streaming success
A Canadian who duped journalists in an elaborate AI music hoax says he apologizes to anyone hurt by his experiment but that it's been too fascinating to turn away from. A man using the pseudonym Andrew Frelon posed as the spokesperson for a band called The Velvet Sundown — which he later said he had no involvement with — creating a media frenzy that propelled the AI-assisted band to a million monthly listeners on Spotify. He spoke with CBC News over the phone Friday on condition that his real name not be revealed. CBC News agreed not to use his real name because he fears harassment based on the hateful messages he's received online, and worries he would lose work if identified. The sticky online saga began when the band appeared on music streaming platforms several weeks ago and amassed hundreds of thousands of streams from two full-length albums. Its blend of laid-back 1970s-inspired rock and modern indie pop appeared on several popular Spotify playlists, including one featuring Vietnam War songs. AI song sparks debate in Francophone music scene (new window) But savvy listeners noticed something was off. The band's supposed members had no digital footprint, and there was no record of them ever having performed live. The album art and profile photo, featuring four shaggy-haired rockers, also carried hallmarks of generative AI. But as the controversy gained steam, an account on social media platform X (new window) purporting to represent the band emphatically denied that any of the music was created by artificial intelligence, calling the accusations lazy and baseless. CBC reached out to the X account on Wednesday and attempted to arrange an interview through a Gmail account purporting to represent the band. Then, a man calling himself Andrew Frelon told Rolling Stone (new window) , in an article that was published online later that day, that he is behind The Velvet Sundown and the X account, and that he used generative AI platform Suno to create the songs. He called the project an art hoax. WATCH | Expert speaks on AI regulation: Début du widget Widget. Passer le widget ? Fin du widget Widget. Retourner au début du widget ? Why more needs to be done to regulate the use of AI New research out of Western University is shining a light on the federal government's use of artificial intelligence through a Tracking Automated Government Register. Joanna Redden, an associate professor of Information and Media Studies and co-director at Starling: Just Technologies. Just Societies. and Data Justice Lab, joined London Morning to talk about the data and concerns about AI use. But just as the mystery appeared to be solved, a different X account linked to the official Velvet Sundown Spotify page posted a statement (new window) saying Frelon has nothing to do with the band. Someone is attempting to hijack the identity of The Velvet Sundown, said the statement, which also appeared on the band's Spotify and Instagram accounts on Thursday. That same day, Frelon, who gave the Rolling Stone interview, posted a lengthy blog (new window) confirming he had nothing to do with the band and that nearly everything he told the magazine, including his name, was a lie. The actual band's identity was once again a mystery. It turned out the hoax was, in fact, part of a bigger hoax. 'It's too fascinating of a mystery' Speaking with CBC News on Friday, Frelon maintained that he has zero connection to the Velvet Sundown. Asked about his motivation for maintaining such a complicated ruse, Frelon said the way the whole thing has played out has become like artistic jet fuel. There's so many weird cultural, technical things at play here. It's too fascinating of a mystery for me to turn away from, he said. The real person behind Andrew Frelon is an expert on web platform safety and policy issues, with extensive experience using generative AI. He was born in the United States but lives in Canada. Frelon used AI to generate this image of The Velvet Sundown at a gala. (Andrew Frelon) Photo: (Andrew Frelon) Several major American publications have interviewed him about his other AI projects and safety and policy issues work. CBC News verified his identity through screen shots and a Signal video chat. Frelon sent screen shots of his correspondence with Rolling Stone to confirm he was the person who did that interview. Frelon said he attempted last year to monetize his own AI music project with a friend. Certain that The Velvet Sundown was generated by AI, and surprised by its seemingly overnight success, he decided to become the band's de-facto publicist as a social engineering experiment. To further sow confusion, Frelon shared posts made by the official Velvet Sundown X account, to intentionally make it look like it was connected to the account he runs. He also generated and posted AI photos of the band in various settings and scenarios, and said he used ChatGPT when initially responding to reporters. Part of his intention with the Velvet Sundown experiment, he said, was blurring reality and trying to see how diligently members of the media would work to verify his identity. I'm really exploiting the uncertainty, he said. And I think that's the art. His experiment also highlighted the ease of creating deceptive content and the speed with which it spreads. Frelon said he ultimately hopes to advance the conversation around generative AI, and its risks and benefits. WATCH | Performers want protection against AI: Début du widget Widget. Passer le widget ? Fin du widget Widget. Retourner au début du widget ? More than 200 performers plead for protections against unethical AI More than 200 performers, including Sheryl Crow and the estate of Bob Marley, have written a letter pleading for protection against the unethical use of artificial intelligence, such as the unauthorized reproduction of their voices and likenesses. In the process, however, he said he's received a flood of hateful messages and acknowledged that the prank has upset some people. I didn't mean to do it maliciously, although obviously some of the techniques I used were underhanded and not very cool, he said. I recognize that, and I apologize for those people affected. Frelon's hoax supercharged The Velvet Sundown's success; the band's audience has grown by about 700,000 monthly listeners on Spotify since his hoax started, hitting one million on Saturday. In yet another twist, the band's official X account admitted on Saturday to its use of AI after playing coy for weeks, saying in a social media statement (new window) it is a synthetic music project guided by human creative direction, and composed, voiced, and visualized with the support of artificial intelligence. Frelon used AI to generate this image of The Velvet Sundown at a gala. (Andrew Frelon) Photo: (Andrew Frelon) It is still not clear who is behind The Velvet Sundown, and its X account has not responded to interview requests from CBC News. Frelon said he received a message from The Velvet Sundown's X account on Saturday, insisting he rename his account and delete all references to the band being 100% human-generated. Frelon's X page is now marked as a parody account. AI 'bands' infiltrate streaming platforms AI-generated electronic music, and AI songs mimicking existing artists (new window) , have become commonplace, but AI bands are a newer phenomenon. Laszlo Tamasi, the man behind hard-rock act The Devil Inside, which has millions of Spotify streams, admitted in June he uses AI to make the music and generate the band's imagery, after fans and music writers raised questions. Other popular artists, like dark country act Aventhis and provocative soul singer Nick Hustles, have similarly been revealed to be AI creations with behind-the-scenes input from humans. Nova Scotia-based singer-songwriter Ian Janes, who had his own battle with AI music (new window) after a seemingly AI-generated project popped up on Spotify using his name, said in some ways, the music industry has set the stage for an AI takeover by relying so heavily on technology-assisted techniques like quantizing and pitch-correcting. He said listeners have become so accustomed to technology-aided perfection in recorded music that when they hear an AI-generated song, it might seem indistinguishable from something made by real people. Conversely, when a human voice goes out of key, or a song speeds up or slows down, people might perceive that as an error. The conditioning of our ears to algorithmic perfection in music has set the stage for AI to be poised to just take that job from us, Janes said. The Velvet Sundown initially raised suspicions in part because its name seemed derivative of acts like the Velvet Underground and Sunset Rubdown, and its song titles and lyrics also seemed to lack originality. Its most-streamed song, Dust on the Wind , for example, recalls the 1977 Kansas hit Dust in the Wind. But Alexander Olson, a senior research associate at the University of Toronto's faculty of applied science and engineering who researches AI, said it's becoming increasingly challenging for the average person to identify AI in all mediums. WATCH | How artificial intelligence impacts creative industries: Début du widget Widget. Passer le widget ? Fin du widget Widget. Retourner au début du widget ? How is AI affecting the creative media industry? For many, artificial intelligence is a tool. For others, it represents plagiarism and theft of intellectual property. Lorelei Pepi, a professor of animation at Emily Carr University in Vancouver, joins our Dan Burritt in conversation to unpack AI's impact on the creative sector. It's made even harder in this setting, because a lot of people are relying on Spotify to choose songs for them and to make those recommendations, he said. Winnipeg-based music critic Darryl Sterdan calls the Velvet Sundown's music generic and forgettable, and said AI is not yet at the point where it can reproduce the soul and indefinable humanity behind worthwhile songs. But he predicts it won't be long before AI generates a genuine chart-topping global pop hit, ultimately forcing institutions like the Grammys and Junos to formally reward AI creations in a bid to remain relevant. Then, the deluge will truly begin, he said. Kevin Maimann (new window) · CBC News
Digital Trends
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
Spotify hit band The Velvet Sundown comes clean on AI
The Velvet Sundown burst onto the music scene in early June and in the space of just a few weeks gained an astonishing 400,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. But its bland music style, hyper-realistic band images, and lack of a digital footprint quickly led many people to suspect that the The Velvet Sundown was AI-generated. And it turns out they were right. Recommended Videos After weeks of speculation, a new message posted on its Spotify page over the weekend finally admitting that the band and its music are the work of generative AI. 'The Velvet Sundown is a synthetic music project guided by human creative direction, and composed, voiced, and visualized with the support of artificial intelligence,' the message says. It continues: '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. 'All characters, stories, music, voices and lyrics are original creations generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools employed as creative instruments. Any resemblance to actual places, events or persons — living or deceased — is purely coincidental and unintentional.' Finally, it says: 'Not quite human. Not quite machine. The Velvet Sundown lives somewhere in between.' In another bizarre twist that came just before the weekend admission, an individual going under the pseudonym 'Andrew Frelon' contacted CBC News and Rolling Stone to claim that he was the person behind the 'art hoax,' while at the same time apologizing to anyone upset by the experiment. Frelon said he created The Velvet Sundown tracks using the generative-AI tool Suno before posting them on Spotify, where the band now has more than a million monthly listeners. Case settled, then. But apparently not. The Velvet Sundown then posted a message on its Instagram page saying that Frelon 'is attempting to hijack the identity of The Velvet Sundown by releasing unauthorized interviews, publishing unrelated photos, and creating fake profiles claiming to represent us — none of which are legitimate, accurate, or connected in any way to us.' On the same day, Frelon popped up again to say that actually he had nothing to do with the band and that he'd made everything up. So, Frelon was a hoaxer, even if the band wasn't. Though was it? Finally (are you still with us at the back?), someone … not Frelon, presumably … posted another message on The Velvet Sundown's Instagram page and also its Spotify page, which we included at the start of this article, about the band being a 'synthetic music project.' Commenting on the latest message, Instagram user justminmusic highlighted the controversial issue of AI-based music generators like the one used to create The Velvet Sundown's tracks: 'They are trying to steal your 'identity' which your ai music stole from other real artist … just stop this already.' It's not clear where The Velvet Sundown will go from here. Will there be an acrimonious breakup, perhaps? Or will it drop its third album in the coming days? While many people following the fortunes of The Velvet Sundown will no doubt be saying, 'Well, we knew that from the start,' the bizarre episode has shone a spotlight on how AI can rapidly and convincingly generate not just music, but entire artist identities, blurring the line between authentic human creativity and AI-generated imitation. And as generative-AI improves, it will only become harder for music fans to tell the difference. Although arranging a live tour may prove somewhat tricky …
