In response to the rise of the controversial AI-generated band The Velvet Sundown, TV writer/producer Simon Blach has formed a rival tribute band made up of real musicians, named The Bootleg Velvet Sundown.
The Velvet Sundown generated headlines last year after accumulating hundreds of thousands of monthly listeners on Spotify, with songs that an unofficial spokesperson for the band claimed had been created via the AI music generation platform Suno.
A statement released by the band responded that this was false, and that in fact "The Velvet Sundown is a multidisciplinary artistic project blending music, analog aesthetics, and speculative storytelling." Regardless, their rise has indicated a notable shift in artificial intelligence's ability to make genuinely popular music.
Now, someone is fighting back. In a post on Instagram, Blach said: "What's the one thing AI music can't do? Play live. Until now. I've formed a tribute band of the most famous AI group of all, Velvet Sundown… but here's the twist. We're not actually paying tribute. Instead of giving any money to the Velvet Sundown, I'm giving all the profits back to real musicians, whose work AI stole in the first place."
The plan is for the group, which consists of musicians Leo Walrus, Enzo Allen, Milo Garland and Luke McQueen, to get in the studio and re-record some of The Velvet Underground's tracks, the ultimate aim being to gather more streams than the original band. This would be a first: as you'd expect, no tribute band has ever accrued more streams than the original band.
It's been suggested that the entire Velvet Sundown project is an elaborate scheme designed to highlight the troubling implications of AI-generated music. Alternatively, it could just be a cynical cash grab: the group is estimated to have already generated tens of thousands of dollars in royalty payments.
Whatever the group's motivations, their copycat band has been bullish in response.
In a recent Instagram video, The Bootleg Velvet Sundown were filmed standing on a London rooftop, with Blach narrating: "If you're making AI music, be very afraid." His posts have been tongue-in-cheek; but make no mistake, there's genuine anger here, and rightly so.
"This is humans versus machines, and today, the humans are rising."
