It’s not often that a ‘band’ like Velvet Sundown, the mysterious outfit that arrived online last month, draw listeners as rapidly as they did.
Their debut album, Floating on Echoes, featuring tracks 60’s-style psychedelic tracks like “Dust on the Wind”, achieved virality on charts globally, with over 1 million monthly streams.
But as their popularity surged, so did the questions surrounding their identity. The band maintained a suspiciously low profile with no interviews, live performances, or any tangible evidence of their existence. Eagle-eyed fans and journalists began noticing peculiarities in their promotional images, which appeared strangely synthetic, while their music — though undeniably compelling — seemed to have an algorithmic quality.
After weeks of speculation and growing scrutiny, the truth finally emerged. The Velvet Sundown confirmed what many had suspected: the entire project was AI-generated with only minimal human oversight.
This revelation ignited a significant debate across the music industry about artistic authorship, authenticity, and the future of creative expression in an increasingly digital landscape.
That’s why Vinyl Group decided to get involved.
When the velvetsundown.com domain went up for sale, Vinyl Group (who own Rolling Stone AU/NZ) decided to purchase the website and use it for an important purpose.
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As its mission statement explains, the website now serves as a dedicated space for “truth-seekers in an age of simulation,” focusing on decoding culture, examining AI-generated content, and highlighting authentic human creation.
The Velvet Sundown incident represents a watershed moment in the music industry, demonstrating how sophisticated AI tools have become at mimicking human creativity. The fact that an entirely artificial band could accumulate such a substantial following before being discovered raises profound questions about how we consume and value music.
This case also underscores the evolving relationship between technology and artistic expression, challenging traditional notions of what constitutes a “real” artist. As AI-generated content becomes increasingly indistinguishable from human-created work, the music industry faces unprecedented questions about attribution, royalties, and artistic integrity.
The team behind the website describes their mission as “illuminating the blurred lines between machine and maker” through tools, essays, and investigations designed to help audiences navigate this new terrain. They aim to chart “the edges of human creativity in a synthetic world” while providing resources for distinguishing between AI and human-created content.
If you want to get involved, sign up here.
