Latest news with #Suno
NDTV
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- NDTV
Saiyaara Mania: Fan Attends Screening With IV Drip, Internet Asks " Itni Dedication?"
Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda 's debut film, Saiyaara, is getting a lot of love from moviegoers. And, the buzz is real. One video going crazy viral on Instagram shows how far fans are going. In the clip, a man is seen watching Saiyaara in a theatre with an IV drip still attached to his hand. Yes, he didn't want to miss the film, even while receiving treatment. He is also seen wiping away tears. Now that is some serious dedication. Take a look at the video below: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Iamfaisal (@iamfaisal04) Needless to say, the comments section of the post was flooded with reactions. A user wrote, 'I tni dedication? Movie ke liye hospital se uthkar chle gye? [This much dedication? Got up from the hospital just to watch a movie?]' Another added, ' Are bhai pahle ilaaj to kar le. [Bro, get your treatment done first.]' A person wrote, ' Mujhe hasi aa rahi hai. [This is making me laugh.]' An Instagrammer posted, ' Kamal Kar Diya bhai. [You have done something amazing, bro.]' Many people even claimed that it was a 'fake move.' Directed by Mohit Suri and produced by Yash Raj Films, Saiyaara explores love, loss, and heartbreak with an emotional touch. The film marks the debut of Ahaan Panday, who plays Krish Kapoor, a struggling musician trying to find his place in the world. Aneet Padda is seen as Vaani Batra, a young writer coming to terms with early-onset Alzheimer's. In an NDTV review, Radhika Sharma gave Saiyaara 3 out of 5 stars. She wrote, ' Saiyaara 's dialogue ' Kuch pal baaqi hain mere paas' callback has the ring of Aashiqui 2 's ' Suno. Kya? Kuch nahin bas yun hee' to it, and there's a strong possibility that it will become viral on social media, especially with the 20-somethings.' Click here to read the full review.
Metro
4 days 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?
Time of India
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Velvet Sundown: The AI-Generated Band That Surprised Spotify and the World
The Music Hit Different. And That's Okay. Trust vs. Transparency: The Takeaway Live Events How AI Bands Could Democratize Music The Business of Synthetic Art Is Just Beginning What Velvet Sundown Reveals About Creativity Today At first glance, Velvet Sundown looked like the next indie band to watch. Dreamy album art, poetic track titles, a soft-psych-folk vibe—it checked all the boxes. But beneath the surface was a twist no one saw coming; there were no real musicians. No concerts. No backstage stories. Velvet Sundown was a fully AI-generated band . And still, it managed to climb to over 1 million monthly Spotify wasn't a fluke or a gimmick. It was an inflection point. The music industry , for decades driven by human expression, has now been met by machine creativity . And rather than panic or dismiss it, people are curious about what this can unlock for future artLet's be honest: when you listen to a track from Velvet Sundown, it feels real. The emotion is there. The lyrics speak in familiar metaphors. The instrumentation is balanced, atmospheric, and playlist-ready. And that's precisely the point—it resonates. Whether the song was written by a struggling singer in a Brooklyn studio or a generative AI trained on thousands of folk ballads doesn't matter as much as it used didn't just copy music. It understood what moved us and reflected it back with startling precision. That's not a threat to creativity. It's a mirror of it. We're not replacing human emotion; we're extending its people were upset when they found out Velvet Sundown wasn't real. And fair enough—transparency matters. But the backlash also shows how much we still define 'authenticity' by origin rather than now on, unambiguous AI content labelling must be adopted as standard practice. But beyond that, we also need to evolve our definition of value in art. If something touches you, helps you heal, makes you feel seen — does it really matter who or what made it?Maybe Velvet Sundown wasn't a scam. Perhaps it was a provocation — a prod challenging us to rethink what 'real' even means in a digital-first of the most exciting ripple effects of Velvet Sundown's rise is what it means for access. Creating music—good music—has historically required expensive software, instruments, training, and industry connections. Now, with AI tools like Suno, Udio, ElevenLabs, and ChatGPT, anyone with a creative vision can produce songs, concept albums, or even full-fledged digital bands. This is democratization in action. Young creators from small towns, bedroom beatmakers, and even fans who've never touched a guitar can now explore musical storytelling without gatekeepers. We're looking at a future where cultural influence isn't determined by location or money, but just by a business standpoint, this also opens up wild opportunities. Brands can create custom music on demand. Game developers can generate adaptive soundtracks. Filmmakers can have dynamic scores based on viewer engagement. And yes, synthetic bands like Velvet Sundown can exist alongside real artists, not to compete, but to explore niche genres, concept-based releases, or interactive fan experiences in the metaverse. We're talking about an entirely new layer of the creator economy, powered by generative more, AI acts can be hyper-responsive. They can release music in real time based on world events, trending topics, or even audience mood. That adaptability is a game-changer to replace artistry, but to evolve audience there's one thing Velvet Sundown teaches us, it's that creativity is no longer the sole domain of individuals—it's evolving into a partnership between humans and like the camera didn't kill painting, or digital art didn't erase sketching, AI music isn't the end of songwriting. It's a new medium. A new instrument. And it's already being used by real artists—not to replace their talent, but to amplify it. Imagine a singer-songwriter who uses AI to draft five alternate choruses in seconds, or a producer who co-composes a beat with a generative rhythm engine. This is the toolkit of tomorrow's artist. Human + Machine = Next-Gen Artistry. Here's the secret: the most interesting future isn't AI versus humans. It's AI with humans.
CNBC
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNBC
AI-generated music is going viral. Should the music industry be worried?
With more than 1 million monthly listeners on Spotify, psychedelic rock band The Velvet Sundown is raking in thousands of dollars and has the music industry asking itself tough questions 一 and they're not about whether the '70s are coming back. The "band" was recently confirmed to primarily be the work of generative artificial intelligence 一 something that had been heavily suspected in light of a suspiciously smooth and glossy image of its "band members" and derivative song titles like "Dust on the Wind." The Velvet Sundown's bio on Spotify now clarifies that it is a "synthetic music project guided by human creative direction, and composed, voiced, and visualized with the support of artificial intelligence." It adds, "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." However, in CNBC's conversations with various music professionals, descriptors like "soulless," "stifling," and "creepy" surfaced, as the industry grapples with the encroachment of AI. While AI tools have long been integrated into music software like Logic, newer AI-powered platforms such as Suno and Udio have made it easier than ever to generate entire songs based on nothing more than a few prompts and inputs. As a result, "The Velvet Sundown" is far from the only AI-generated artist emerging online. There's evidence that other upstarts like "dark country" musician Aventhis — with more than 600,000 monthly listeners on Spotify — are also a product of AI-generated voices and instruments. Meanwhile, France-headquartered music-streaming service Deezer, which deployed an AI detection tool for music in January, revealed in April that about 18% of all tracks now being uploaded to its platform are fully generated by AI. The quality and originality of AI music have often been criticized, but experts say that as generative AI becomes more sophisticated, it's becoming harder and harder for the average listener to distinguish between human and machine. "[The Velvet Sundown]" is much better music than most of what we've heard from AI in the past," Jason Palamara, an assistant professor of music technology at the Herron School of Art and Design, told CNBC. "Early versions could be used to make catchy, repetitive hooks ... But we've gotten to the point where AI is putting out songs that actually make sense structurally, with verses, choruses and bridges," Palamara said. He said The Velvet Sundown is likely just the "tip of the iceberg" of what's coming. Suno and Udio — the current "gold standard" of genAI platforms — come with few to no barriers to entry, allowing anyone to create hundreds of AI tracks in one sitting. Both AI platforms offer free access, as well as premium subscriptions priced at about $30 or less a month. But while creating an AI song can be done for free, that doesn't mean it can't generate revenue. The Velvet Sundown has made about $34,235 over a 30-day period across all audio streaming platforms, according to estimations from ChartMasters' streaming royalties calculator. Because of that, it's easy to see why AI creators might want to flood streaming platforms with as much generated music as possible, hoping to go viral. The growing prevalence of AI music has caused a stir across the music industry, according to Keith Mullin, head of management and music industry course leader at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. "It's the hot topic of the moment, especially in relation to copyright and digital service providers like Spotify," said Mullin, who is also the guitarist for Liverpool rock band The Farm. Major record labels such as Sony Music, Universal Music Group, and Warner Records have launched lawsuits against Suno and Udio, accusing them of mass copyright infringement. Meanwhile, thousands of musicians and creatives have called for a prohibition on using human art to train artificial intelligence without permission. Nevertheless, Mullin said generative AI on music is here to stay. "I don't think we can turn the clock back," he said, noting that music and its business models are ever changing. Indeed, the music business is no stranger to big technology shifts — events like the introduction of Napster in 1999 and the proliferation of music-streaming platforms in the 2000s shook up the industry, forcing major adaptations. Still, the notion of competing with AI bands is causing anxiety for budding musicians like Tilly Louise, a U.K.-based alternative pop artist who said it's already hard enough for small performers to gain traction and generate income from online music. Despite accumulating millions of streams on Spotify, Louise, 25, said she's never made nearly enough money from streaming platforms to live on, and currently works a full-time job. "For a band that doesn't even really exist to then get all that social media traction, it's so discouraging," she added. To prepare young artists for the changing music environment, music professors said, they've increasingly been working AI into their lesson plans, aiming to teach students how to use the technology to enhance their creative process and music production, rather than replace it. Some established producers have also leaned into the trend. Last month, Grammy-winning artist and producer Timbaland launched an AI-focused entertainment venture, called Stage Zero, which will feature an AI-generated pop star. "Other producers are going to start doing this ... and it will create a completely different model of the music industry that we can't predict yet," Palamara said. He added, however, that he does think the trend will make earning money as an artist online even harder. The trend is also expected to continue to receive backlash not only for its impact on artists, but also for what it could mean for music consumers. "[M]usic fans should be worried because the proliferation of AI music and content clogs our social media feeds and algorithms, making it difficult for us to connect with one another," Anthony Fantano, a prominent music critic and internet personality on YouTube, told CNBC in a statement. "AI art offers nothing that humans themselves can't already do better," he said, adding that it's a way for "greedy capitalists" to cut out actual artists. Aside from calling for better copyright protections for artists when it comes to the training of AI, music groups are asking that AI-generated music be labeled as such. Spotify did not respond to an inquiry from CNBC regarding its generative AI detection and labeling policies. In a statement to CNBC, Tino Gagliardi, president of the American Federation Of Musicians of the United States and Canada, urged creators, those in the tech industry, lawmakers, and music fans to stand together in support of human creativity and authorship. "Consent, credit, and compensation are prerequisites in AI development. And transparency, including in streaming and other marketplaces, is the foundation for safeguarding musicians' livelihoods. Anything short of that is theft."
The Hindu
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
‘We're AI,' popular indie rock band admits
An indie rock band with more than a million monthly listeners on Spotify has owned up to being an AI-generated music project following days of speculation about whether the group was real. Named Velvet Sundown, seemingly a nod to Lou Reed's band The Velvet Underground, the digital group has become a viral hit, generating ferocious online discussion after racking up hundreds of thousands of listens. An updated Spotify profile, consulted on Tuesday by AFP, admitted that the group was an 'ongoing artistic provocation'. 'All characters, stories, music, voices and lyrics are original creations generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools employed as creative instruments,' Velvet Sundown's profile added. Recently created social media profiles, featuring photos of the group that look suspiciously fake, have teased readers about the group's origins, offering often contradictory information. Experts have long warned about the dangers of AI-image, video and music generators blurring the lines between the real and fake. A major study in December by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), which represents more than five million creators worldwide, warned about the danger of AI-generated music. It forecast that artists could see their incomes shrink by more than 20 percent in the next four years as the market for AI-composed music grows. Stockholm-based streamer Spotify declined to comment directly about Velvet Sundown when contacted by AFP. Spokeswoman Geraldine Igou wrote that the platform does not 'prioritise or benefit financially from music created using AI tools'. 'All tracks are created, owned, and uploaded by licensed third parties,' Igou insisted. Rival music streaming service Deezer displayed a warning for 'AI-generated content' for Velvet Sundown. 'Some tracks on this album may have been created using artificial intelligence,' it said. The Spotify rival has an AI-music detection tool that is able to identify songs generated using popular software models such as Suno and Udio. Deezer said in April that it was receiving more than 20,000 fully AI-generated tracks on a daily basis, comprising 18 percent of all uploaded content, an increase from the previously reported 10 percent in January. Reports on Tuesday said an imposter posing as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been using AI-generated voice and text messages to high-level officials and foreign ministers.
