Latest news with #SweetJane
Metro
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
Mystery AI rock band with over 1,000,000 streams sparks confusion and warnings
A mysterious new band is climbing the charts on Spotify, racking up over over a million listens in just a few weeks. The Velvet Sundown sound familiar, and their songs are perfectly listenable, if not the next Sweet Jane. But they're causing controversy because they're entirely AI-generated – and the streaming platform isn't making it obvious to listeners. When they first appeared on Spotify at the end of June, they had a 'verified artist' profile claiming that the band was 'formed by singer and mellotron player Gabe Farrow, guitarist Lennie West, Milo Rains, who crafts the band's textured synth sounds, and free-spirited percussionist Orion 'Rio' Del Mar'. But some soon became suspicious that none of them had any social media presence or evidence of existing outside of this bio. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Not quite what you'd expect if they'd been gigging and promoting themselves for years before their big break. The Velvet Sundown have now admitted that both the 'bandmates' and the music are AI generated. Even before this, Deezer, a rival music streaming service, had tagged their music as such. This had nothing to do with the images or promotion surrounding them, but was down to analysis of the music itself. Aurelien Herault, Chief Innovation Officer at Deezer, told Metro: We have trained our detection tool using datasets from a number of generative models, including Suno and Udio, which means that our detection tool is able to recognise the signals and sounds in fully AI-generated music that you don't find in authentic tracks. 'We have also made significant progress in training our detection tool to identify AI tracks even without a specific dataset to train on. 'Thanks to our tool, we are confident that the album pages that are currently tagged generated by AI on our platform are generated by AI.' Their software flagged The Velvet Sundown as being AI before the contoversy erupted, and so a label is now shown to users warning 'AI generated content. Some tracks on this album may have been created using artificial intelligence.' After speculation across news organisations, the 'band' admitted they were not real humans. Their Spotify profile now refers to them as 'a synthetic music project guided by human creative direction'. But their online presence is even odder than this, as there are multiple accounts claiming to be them on both X and Instagram. The band have ironically now accused one of these accounts of trying to 'hijack' their identity by 'creating fake profiles claiming to represent us'. An unofficial X profile wrote many posts such as: 'This is not a joke. This is our music, written in long, sweaty nights in a cramped bungalow in California with real instruments, real minds, and real soul. Every chord, every lyric, every mistake — HUMAN.' This prolific poster later unmasked themselves as 'Andrew Frelon', claiming their account was an art hoax making up posts using ChatGPT, and admitting they were still using a fake name. They wrote in a long post on Medium that they were interested in disinformation and generative AI, and saw an opportunity for mischief as the newly buzzy 'band' had no social media presence. The fake X account has more followers than the official X account, and also started posting first, so you can see why people got confused about all of this. We also sent them a message after they claimed to be a spokesperson for the band, but they did not respond when we asked for a video interview. The band also has at least five Instagram accounts claiming to be them, one of which is filled with what looks like AI generated images. These images were part of the reason the band was identified as fake in the first place, with oddities in the images like fudged fingers or a guitar with disappearing strings. But again, the band now say these are not from their official account. It's growing, and Deezer say they now see 20,000 tracks which are 100% AI generated submitted every single day, which has doubled from the start of the year. Mr Herault told Metro that artifically generated music now makes up approximately 18% of all tracks delivered to the platform. He said: 'At Deezer we want to prioritise revenues going to real artists, which is why we remove fully AI-generated tracks from algorithmic or editorial recommendations. 'We don't believe AI music is inherently good or bad, but we believe music fans have a right to know what they are listening to, which is why we opt for a transparent approach and tag AI-generated music on Deezer, in order to build trust with our users.' As the tech continues to improve, we will no doubt get tracks which sound great and are made by AI, at the same time as becomes more integrated in filmmaking and yes, maybe takes your white collar job. Spotify has been investing heavily in AI, and you can now use it to make you playlists or listen to a DJ curating songs for you. But it has also been accused of adding AI generated music to popular playlists like Ambient Chill and Peaceful Piano, without it being obvious to users. The company has not commented on this, but previously said it was 'categorically untrue' that it was creating AI music itself to fill playlists. Instagram has introduced a tag to show if something is made using AI, and videos made by Google Veo are watermarked. However, the industry standard is less clear when it comes to AI music, with Deezer currently the only streaming platform to tag it as such. One way scammers might benefit from uploading AI music to streaming platforms is by getting enough streams to earn them royalties. There are even so-called 'streaming farms' where tracks are listened to over and over again to try and game the system. So a song could be made by AI and listened to by bots on repeat, with humans barely part of the musical process at all. It would be too obvious if an unknown artist suddenly racked up millions of streams (much like with the Velvet Sundown). So to get around this, fraudsters flood streaming platforms with lots of fake songs which are each streamed just a few thousands times: enough to make money, but less likely to make people suspicious. Explaining the problem, Mr Herault said: If an artist is able to gain a significant number of users streaming their music, they then become entitled to a bigger share of the royalty pool. 'This is true whether an artist is using AI or not; the only difference being that AI music is significantly easier to produce.' More Trending He said that fraudulent streams 'are often generated by streaming farms or bots, which repeatedly 'listen' to tracks in order to inflate their streams and increase their share of the royalty pool.' Deezer said that up to 70% of streams of fully AI tracks are fraudulent, though currently AI tracks only make up 0.5% of overall streams. The company added: 'When detecting stream manipulation of any kind, Deezer excludes the streams from the royalty payments.' Although the Velvet Sundown profile on Spotify now tells listeners the truth, there is still no general system to flag AI content to users. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Gavin Rossdale clears up decades-long misconception about his band Bush MORE: AI will replace these 10 jobs — but here's what workers can do instead MORE: Games Inbox: What is the next big game for Nintendo Switch 2?
Metro
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Mystery over rock band 'that doesn't exist' with over 600,000 streams
A mysterious new band is climbing the charts on Spotify, racking up over half a million listens in just a few days. The Velvet Sundown sound familiar, and their songs are perfectly listenable, if not the next Sweet Jane. But they're causing controversy because people think they're entirely AI-generated, and you can see why. They either don't exist at all, or they're pretending to be AI for a marketing gimmick. According to their 'verified artist' Spotify profile, the band was 'formed by singer and mellotron player Gabe Farrow, guitarist Lennie West, Milo Rains, who crafts the band's textured synth sounds, and free-spirited percussionist Orion 'Rio' Del Mar'. Only problem is, none of them have any social media presence or evidence of existing outside of this bio, and the band itself only started posting on X and Instragram three days ago. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Not quite what you'd expect if they'd been gigging and promoting themselves for years before their big break. Their official Instagram account references the controversy with a video captioned: 'They said we're not real. Maybe you aren't either.' Equally enigmatically, their bio reads: 'A band you might have heard once in a dream. This one has only just begun.' But their online presence is even odder than this, as there are several different accounts claiming to be them on both X and Instagram, one of which has been very outspoken insisting they are not AI. They wrote: 'This is not a joke. This is our music, written in long, sweaty nights in a cramped bungalow in California with real instruments, real minds, and real soul. Every chord, every lyric, every mistake — HUMAN.' But the plot thickens, as a different Velvet Sundown account on X (the one linked to in the band's Spotify profile) indicated the first account wasn't even them at all. They wrote: 'To all the journalists who wrote about us — Thank you for listening. However, these are the only official pages of the band. All others are reflections, echoes, projections. Don't amplify what isn't us.' The possibly fake X account has more followers than the official X account, and also started posting first, so you can see why people are getting confused about all of this. 🚨 Absolutely crazy that so-called 'journalists' keep pushing the lazy, baseless theory that The Velvet Sundown is 'AI-generated' with zero evidence. Not a single one of these "writers" has reached out, visited a show, or listened beyond the Spotify algorithm. 1/ — The Velvet Sundown (Band) – Official 🎸🎶🎧 (@Velvet_Sundown) June 29, 2025 We asked to speak to the people behind the (fake?) X account and they agreed to talk, but did not yet reply when we asked if it could be a video call. The band also has at least five Instagram accounts, one of which is filled with what looks like AI generated images. These images are part of the reason the band has been accused of being fake, with oddities in the images like fudged fingers or a guitar with disappearing strings. But again, the band now say this is not their official account, which has only one promo video on the grid. Deezer, a rival music streaming service, has tagged the Velvet Sundown's music as being AI generated. This had nothing to do with the images or promotion surrounding them, but was down to analysis of the music itself. Aurelien Herault, Chief Innovation Officer at Deezer, told Metro: We have trained our detection tool using datasets from a number of generative models, including Suno and Udio, which means that our detection tool is able to recognise the signals and sounds in fully AI-generated music that you don't find in authentic tracks. 'We have also made significant progress in training our detection tool to identify AI tracks even without a specific dataset to train on. 'Thanks to our tool, we are confident that the album pages that are currently tagged generated by AI on our platform are generated by AI.' Their software flagged The Velvet Sundown as being AI before the contoversy erupted, and so a label is now shown to users warning 'AI generated content. Some tracks on this album may have been created using artificial intelligence.' It's growing, and Deezer say they now see 20,000 tracks which are 100% AI generated submitted every single day, which has doubled from the start of the year. Mr Herault told Metro that artifically generated music now makes up approximately 18% of all tracks delivered to the platform. He said: 'At Deezer we want to prioritise revenues going to real artists, which is why we remove fully AI-generated tracks from algorithmic or editorial recommendations. 'We don't believe AI music is inherently good or bad, but we believe music fans have a right to know what they are listening to, which is why we opt for a transparent approach and tag AI-generated music on Deezer, in order to build trust with our users.' As the tech continues to improve, we will no doubt get tracks which sound great and are made by AI, at the same time as becomes more integrated in filmmaking and yes, maybe takes your white collar job. Spotify has been investing heavily in AI, and you can now use it to make you playlists or listen to a DJ curating songs for you. But it has also been accused of adding AI generated music to popular playlists like Ambient Chill and Peaceful Piano, without it being obvious to users. The company has not commented on this, but previously said it was 'categorically untrue' that it was creating AI music itself to fill playlists. Instagram has introduced a tag to show if something is made using AI, and videos made by Google Veo are watermarked. However, the industry standard is less clear when it comes to AI music, with Deezer currently the only streaming platform to tag it as such. One way scammers might benefit from uploading AI music to streaming platforms is by getting enough streams to earn them royalties. There are even so-called 'streaming farms' where tracks are listened to over and over again to try and game the system. So a song could be made by AI and listened to by bots on repeat, with humans barely part of the musical process at all. It would be too obvious if an unknown artist suddenly racked up millions of streams (much like with the Velvet Sundown). So to get around this, fraudsters flood streaming platforms with lots of fake songs which are each streamed just a few thousands times: enough to make money, but less likely to make people suspicious. Explaining the problem, Mr Herault said: If an artist is able to gain a significant number of users streaming their music, they then become entitled to a bigger share of the royalty pool. More Trending 'This is true whether an artist is using AI or not; the only difference being that AI music is significantly easier to produce.' He said that fraudulent streams 'are often generated by streaming farms or bots, which repeatedly 'listen' to tracks in order to inflate their streams and increase their share of the royalty pool.' Deezer said that up to 70% of streams of fully AI tracks are fraudulent, though currently AI tracks only make up 0.5% of overall streams. The company said: 'When detecting stream manipulation of any kind, Deezer excludes the streams from the royalty payments.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Legendary 70s rock band tease reunion tour after retiring over frontman's serious injury MORE: Rock star shares hospital bed update after 'very aggressive' cancer diagnosis MORE: I worked at Wimbledon for 40 years — now a machine has taken my job
ABC News
09-06-2025
- General
- ABC News
Camellia Collection
Sophie visits a nursery that specialises in growing camellias, providing some ideas for garden colour in the cooler months. There are more than 300 species of camellias worldwide, although the two most commonly grown and the Camellia japonica and Camellia sasanqua . From these, many thousands of hybrids and cultivars have been bred. Third generation grower Dan Hall points out the key features of the two types: Japonica Varieties tend to have larger, rounder flowers and bigger leaves, and prefer part shade or protection from afternoon sun; they generally flower in winter or early spring. They can also be larger plants, although there are smaller cultivars now available. Sasanquas Have smaller flowers and leaves and are fast growing, making them better suited to hedging. They tend to flower in autumn or early winter, and are more tolerant of sunlight and warmer conditions. Both prefer slightly acidic soil, regular watering, and good drainage. A favourite of Dan's is 'Roger Hall', a red formally shaped double that was named after his late grandfather. Modern hybrids offer a range of attributes, from the long-flowering 'Sweet Jane', which can flower from autumn to spring, to hardy floribunda hybrids such as 'Illumination' that produces masses of flowers from a young age. There are even some ground-covering prostrate forms, including 'Marge Miller', which can grow up to 3m wide. If you have a few different camellias in your garden or nearby, and seed heads form on your plants, you could try growing the seeds. It might take five or six years for the new seedlings to start flowering, but you could end up with a completely new variety! To propagate an exact copy of your plant, take cuttings. Dan also explains how to create a weeping standard – by training a weeping form upright, supported by a stake, and removing any growth along the trunk, leaving just the branches at the top. Alternatively, graft a weeping form onto the straight stem of a sturdier species. Camellias can also be espaliered against an east-facing wall; most sasanqua species would be suitable for this, Dan says. Problems Yellowing of leaves can often be a sign of pH problems – it should be about 5-6. If your soil is too alkaline, you can reduce the pH by adding iron chelates. Hot morning sun on wet buds or flowers can also cause browning and other problems. Dan says a common mistake is to put a small plant into a large pot – this leaves too much wet soil around the small rootball, which can cause root rot. COMMON CAMELLIA Camellia japonica cv. SASANQUA CAMELLIA Camellia sasanqua cv. CAMELLIA 'DESIRE' Camellia japonica cv. CAMELLIA 'TINSIE' Camellia japonica cv. CAMELLIA 'GREAT EASTERN' Camellia japonica cv. CAMELLIA 'ROGER HALL' Camellia japonica cv. CAMELLIA 'SLIM N TRIM' Camellia sasanqua cv. CAMELLIA 'EARLY PEARLY' Camellia sasanqua cv. CAMELLIA 'YULETIDE' Camellia sasanqua cv. CAMELLIA 'AVALANCHE' Camellia sasanqua cv. CAMELLIA 'SWEET JANE' Camellia sasanqua cv. CAMELLIA 'E.G. WATERHOUSE' Camellia × williamsii cv. CAMELLIA 'CHANSONETTE' Camellia sasanqua cv. CAMELLIA 'MARGE MILLER' Camellia sasanqua cv. CAMELLIA 'SNOW' Camellia sasanqua cv.
Scoop
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Canadian Alt-Country Pioneers Cowboy Junkies To Play Career-spanning NZ Tour
The legendary Canadian alternative country/blues/folk rock band, Cowboy Junkies, will return to New Zealand later this year for a four-date tour, celebrating their 40th anniversary. Presented by David Roy Williams, An Evening with Cowboy Junkies will see the alt-country pioneers performing four career-spanning shows from their 1988 multi-platinum album THE TRINITY SESSION to their most recent universally acclaimed record, 2023'S SUCH FEROCIOUS BEAUTY. An Evening with Cowboy Junkies follows their triumphant 2023 NZ tour, which saw the band touch down in Aotearoa for the first time in more than 20 years. The upcoming tour will kick off on Tuesday, November 4 at the Town Hall in Auckland, before heading to the Opera House in Wellington on Thursday, November 6 and the Regent Theatre in Palmerston North on Friday, November 7. The band will also perform their only South Island show at the Isaac Theatre in Christchurch on Sunday, November 9. David Roy Williams promoter pre-sale is from 1pm, Wednesday April 30, and the general public on sale is from 1pm, Thursday May 1. 'You get great vocal work, terrific guitar playing, gorgeous lyrics and so much more at a Cowboy Junkies show' - The Mercury In 1988, Cowboy Junkies proved that there was an audience waiting for something quiet, beautiful, and reflective. THE TRINITY SESSION was like a whisper that cut through the noise - and it was compelling. It stood out amid the flash and bombast that defined the late 80s. The album featured the band's unforgettable cover of the Velvet Underground's 'Sweet Jane', and combined folk, country, blues, and rock in a way that had never been heard before and went on to sell more than a million copies. Their ability to communicate volumes before the lyrics kick in defines an enduring career. Where most bands chase trends, the Junkies have stayed their course, maintaining a low-impact excavation of melody and evocative language delivered sotto voce in singer Margo Timmins' feathery alto. Formed in Toronto in 1985, Margo was joined by siblings Michael Timmins on guitar, Peter Timmins on drums, and Michael's lifelong friend Alan Anton on bass to begin a journey that has evolved over 29 albums. 'I've known Alan longer than I've known Pete,' says Michael. 'We were friends before Pete was born.' Unlike most long-lasting groups, Cowboy Junkies have never had a breakup or taken a sanity-saving hiatus. There's an appreciation of each other that keeps them constantly working. 'It's that intimacy and understanding of what each one of us brings to the table,' says Michael. 'The expectations and responsibilities of our roles are a big part of the band's ethos. We're still amazed that we're doing things our way and continuing to grow the band, but the longer we are at it, the more fun it's become. We don't take it for granted,' Michael offers. 'We do what we do,' Margo agrees, 'and it feels right for all of us. After 40 years of playing together, the band and its music are more important to us than ever. The music we make brings each of us a great sense of contentment, a knowledge of place, and a sense of doing what we were meant to do.' An Evening with Cowboy Junkies promises to be a night not to be missed. With a career-spanning set-list, fans of the much-loved Canadian band will be treated to all their hits and much more!
