--- title: "An “Indie Rock Band” That Appears to Be Entirely AI-Generated Is Making Alarming Amounts of Money on Spotify" description: "While real artists struggle to earn money on Spotify, a seemingly AI-generated band has garnered enough streams to actually make a buck. " date: "2025-06-30" modified: "2025-06-30" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/ai-band-spotify-streams" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai music" - "ai slop" - "spotify" - "streaming" --- # An “Indie Rock Band” That Appears to Be Entirely AI-Generated Is Making Alarming Amounts of Money on Spotify ![While real artists struggle to earn money on Spotify, a seemingly AI-generated band has garnered enough streams to actually make a buck. ]() *\Image: The Velvet Sundown\* *Update: there's been even more drama, but the upshot is that the band has copped to using AI -- [more details here]().* While real artists struggle to earn money on Spotify, a seemingly AI-generated "band" has garnered enough streams to actually make a buck. As [*Music Ally* reports,]() the act in question, The Velvet Sundown, recently appeared out of the blue on [Spotify](), [Apple Music](), [Amazon Music](), [Deezer](), and even [YouTube]() — despite having no digital footprint prior to this summer. Despite being so seemingly young, The Velvet Sundown — whose name is a clear ripoff of Lou Reed's legendary psych-rock band The Velvet Underground, perhaps with a mix of Sunset Rubdown, a [predecessor to indie freak band Wolf Parade]() — has racked up more than 550,000 listens this month (which, for perspective, is fewer than The Velvet Underground is pulling in, but vastly more than either Sunset Rubdown or Wolf Parade.) With Spotify's per-stream payouts ranging from $0.003 to $0.005, those streams alone could be garnering thousands of dollars per month, and that's without getting into the band's presence on other streaming services (there's a non-zero chance that [bots play a role]() in that "listenership," too.) First [flagged by Redditors]() perturbed by the band's appearance in their Discovery Weekly playlists on Spotify, it didn't take much surface-scratching to reveal the act's probable nature. Apart from a [flag from Spotify competitor Deezer]() that the band's tracks may be AI-generated — something the platform [very recently began to detect]() — there are a ton of other glaring red flags surrounding The Velvet Sundown. For one, none of its purported "members" — Gabe Farrow, Lennie West, Milo Rains, and Orion 'Rio' Del Mar — appear to exist. Save for a defunct Instagram account for a cat bearing the name "[Milo Rains]()," neither *Music Ally* nor *Futurism* could find any digital footprint for any of those names prior to June 2025. Were that complete lack of evidence not convincing, one need only peek at the [phony musicians' Instagram account]() to tell that they are little more than an algorithmic creation. Each of the photos on the band's page bear the unmistakable sheen of AI, a creepy *je ne sais quoi* that suggests they are denizens of the uncanny valley. None of those posts are older than a few days, either. Perhaps the greatest "tell" about the band, as [*Sterogum* noted](), is a rapturous blurb that previously appeared in its Spotify bio and was attributed to *Billboard* — but never appears to have actually run in the storied music publication. "They sound like the memory of something you never lived, and somehow make it feel real," the faux *Billboard* review read. Since *Music Ally* and other sites began reporting on the band's fakeness, the reference to *Billboard* was removed from the band's bio, though the text itself remains. We've reached out to Spotify and the other streaming platforms where The Velvet Sundown's music appears to ask whether they've looked into the AI allegations against the band. Unfortunately, only [Deezer]() and [YouTube]() actually mark AI-generated content, so even if the platforms acknowledge that the band is fake as heck, users won't be warned. **More on AI music:** [*YouTube Playlists Are Advertising "No AI" as Entire Site Gets Choked by AI Slop*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()