Latest news with #VelvetSundown
San Francisco Chronicle
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
I used AI to make this song. The results, and its implications, startled me
Earlier this month, a band called the Velvet Sundown surpassed 1 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Its profile features two albums, some gauzy cover art and a genre-appropriate backstory. The music was credible, the branding effective and the effect convincing. Only afterward did we learn the truth: There was no band. Every note, lyric, image and faux-autobiographical gesture was the work of generative artificial intelligence. The project was presented as human, then rebranded as 'synthetic music guided by human creative direction,' a soft euphemism for automation. Whatever creative intentions, aesthetic sensibilities or prompting skills that may have guided the project, the resulting songs still arose from full substitution because no embodied musical practice took place. No performance, no skill-based interaction with the medium, no causal chain running through human hands in the act of making. We are in the process of crossing a threshold. AI systems trained on decades of creative labor now can plausibly simulate artistry, threatening to render the human creator redundant. Skills that once required years of practice are instantly mimicked by code. Musicians now face an existential question: Has their craft, refined through long hours of practice, collaboration and performance, already become obsolete? Listeners also face a paradox. A song moves you, but its 'singer' cannot feel. What, then, has moved you? The structure, the timbre, the rhetorical form? Or the knowledge that somewhere, behind the notes, another person is manipulating generative AI with whom you might be joined in experience? There is historical precedent for this. In the industrial era, machines hollowed out skilled labor. Weaving, typesetting and machining were all transformed into logistical problems that were, by and large, solved through automation. What disappeared was not only employment but a relationship between work and meaning. The rhythms of human labor were replaced by the monotonous hum of mechanical replication. Today's creative automation occurs on cloud servers. The new assembly line runs through graphics processing units and datasets on which a million songs become the raw template material for one more product. I've experienced this firsthand. Last year, I subscribed to Suno, an AI platform that generates music from text and audio prompts. Its marketing promises 'a future where anyone can make great music,' reframing skilled composition as a technical barrier waiting to be removed. My early experiments were forgettable. A prompt request for a Weimar-style cabaret polka returned a tune that sounded less like 'The Threepenny Opera' (1928), and more like elevator music for a mid-tier chain hotel in Leipzig, circa 2004. A Krautrock-inspired instrumental was more on point, but still nothing to write home about. Over time, however, Suno's responses improved dramatically. Then, in July, I decided to write a song combining the old way with the new generative tools. I uploaded lyric ideas (finished by ChatGPT) and a low-fi guitar recording from my phone to Suno. After several cycles, what came back startled me. The track, titled 'Ashes on the Heath,' didn't just resemble my idea; it felt like it was the idea, polished. The vocal delivery seemed emotionally real. It almost felt like a collaboration. [Listen to the song below.] Of course, the emotion wasn't real. Generative AI doesn't really collaborate. It doesn't know you or have feelings about strum patterns or drum fills. Most importantly, it doesn't make mistakes, which are integral to the process of real music. AI replicates genre conventions and timbral signatures. It does not live through them. It reproduces the statistical contours of prior performances while living nowhere inside them. It can only reconfigure forms once used to produce meaning. Generative AI is not magic; it's logistics. Platforms like Suno do not understand or feel music. They approximate its grammar. They rely on vast archives of recorded music, often pulled without permission or compensation. AI's 'cheap' outputs aren't cheap because the cost of making art has vanished. They're cheap because the cost for training is being invisibly offloaded onto past labor that was never compensated. They don't feel or resolve tension. They don't second-guess themselves. They produce form without the living content that once made form matter. Other audio tools based on machine learning — e.g., Izotope's noise reduction plug-in and Logic Pro's stem separation — have already become normalized in music production. But generative AI crosses a different line. It doesn't just assist the process. It threatens to supersede it entirely. The result could be substitution rather than enhancement. While some might argue that generative AI democratizes creativity, this framing obscures a deeper reality. These systems make possible the instantaneous imitation of creativity. Authorship too easily collapses into prompt-entry. It is more akin to configuration from a catalog. Yes, AI can and will enhance creative projects, making new outcomes possible. No, it will not mean the same thing if no human struggle threads it together. When I initially shared my AI-assisted track with a few friends, I withheld the fact that the vocals had been created by a machine. The reception was warm. Some listeners were moved to tears. Then I shared the track with some other friends, disclosing the AI vocals upfront. The reception was quite different. 'There's no tell in the vocal that it's a heartless construct sent by fascitarian tech overlords to extract phosphorus from the working class,' one wrote. 'So: 1) good job, and 2) ohmygodwhatishappening?' Another said simply, 'Nice track — but I draw a hard line on AI for music creation, and I'm sure you know why.' I do know why. Because music isn't just sound. It's a relationship based on tension, memory and embodiment. It's the moment in the take that no one planned, but everyone went with, or the phrasing that makes the line land. I don't think AI will erase human music. Music is social; it comes from bodies in time. But the economic logic is changing. A tireless synthetic co-worker, charging a modest monthly subscription fee and trained on the unpaid labor of artists whose livelihoods it now threatens — this is all new. The point is not to romanticize a pre-generative-AI past. It is to understand that the problem is not the tool but the system that deploys it to cheapen labor and consolidate cultural production on private platforms. The question is not only, 'Can AI make art?' but also, 'Who controls what counts as art and under what terms?' Platforms like Suno are not only generating songs. They are scripting the future conditions under which music will be made, circulated and valued. To what extent these systems serve as creative tools or substitutes for creativity will decide whether culture remains an open field of human meaning or a closed loop of recombinable parts. That decision is, in principle, ours to make. But the conditions for exercising that agency are eroding quickly.
New Straits Times
08-08-2025
- Entertainment
- New Straits Times
AI bands signal new era for music business
A rising tide of artificial intelligence (AI) bands is ushering in a new era where work will be scarcer for musicians. Whether it's Velvet Sundown's 1970s-style rock or country music projects "Aventhis" and "The Devil Inside," bands whose members are pure AI creations are seeing more than a million plays on streaming giant Spotify. No major streaming service clearly labels tracks that come entirely from AI, except France's Deezer. Meanwhile, the producers of these songs tend to be unreachable. "I feel like we're at a place where nobody is really talking about it, but we are feeling it," said music producer, composer and performer Leo Sidran. "There is going to be a lot of music released that we can't really tell who made it or how it was made." The Oscar-winning artist sees the rise of AI music as perhaps a sign of how "generic and formulaic" genres have become. AI highlights the chasm between music people listen to "passively" while doing other things and "active" listening in which fans care about what artists convey, said producer and composer Yung Spielburg on the Imagine AI Live podcast. Spielburg believes musicians will win out over AI with "active" listeners but will be under pressure when it comes to tunes people play in the background while cooking dinner or performing mundane tasks. If listeners can't discern which tunes are AI-made, publishers and labels will likely opt for synthetic bands that don't earn royalties, Spielburg predicted. "AI is already in the music business and it's not going away because it is cheap and convenient," said Mathieu Gendreau, associate professor at Rowan University in New Jersey, who is also a music industry executive. "That will make it even more difficult for musicians to make a living." Music streaming platforms already fill playlists with mood music attributed to artists about whom no information can be found, according to University of Rochester School of Music professor Dennis DeSantis. Meanwhile, AI-generated soundtracks have become tempting, cost-saving options in movies, television shows, ads, shops, elevators and other venues, DeSantis added. AI TAKES ALL? Composer Sidran says he and his music industry peers have seen a sharp slowdown in work coming their way since late last year. "I suspect that AI is a big part of the reason," said Sidran, host of "The Third Story" podcast. "I get the feeling that a lot of the clients that would come to me for original music, or even music from a library of our work, are using AI to solve those problems." Technology has repeatedly helped shape the music industry, from electric guitars and synthesizers to multi-track recording and voice modulators. Unlike such technologies that gave artists new tools and techniques, AI could lead to the "eradication of the chance of sustainability for the vast majority of artists," warned George Howard, a professor at the prestigious Berklee College of Music. "AI is a far different challenge than any other historical technological innovation," Howard said. "And one that will likely be zero-sum." Howard hopes courts will side with artists in the numerous legal battles with generative AI giants whose models imitate their styles or works. Gendreau sees AI music as being here to stay and teaches students to be entrepreneurs as well as artists in order to survive in the business. Sidran advises musicians to highlight what makes them unique, avoiding the expected in their works because "AI will have done it."
Arab Times
03-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab Times
Can you spot an AI-generated song? Here's how to tell
Is it The Velvet Underground or Velvet Sundown? The fictitious rock group, Velvet Sundown, which comes complete with AI-generated music, lyrics and album art, is stoking debate about how the new technology is blurring the line between the real and synthetic in the music industry, and whether creators should be transparent with their audience. Computer software is widely used in music production, and artificial intelligence is just the latest tool that disc jockeys, music producers and others have added to their production pipeline. But the rise of AI song generators such as Suno and Udio is set to transform the industry because they allow anyone to create songs with just a few prompts. While some people do not care whether they're listening to AI-generated music, others might be curious to know. If you encounter a new song that leaves you wondering whether it's 100% made with AI, some methods could reveal how it was created. Do a background check If you're wondering who's behind a song, try some old-fashioned detective work. The 'most obvious cues' come from 'external factors,' said Manuel Mousallam, head of research and development at streaming service Deezer. Does the band or artist have social media accounts? Lack of a social presence might indicate there's no one there. If they do exist online, examine the kind of content they post, and how long it goes back. Is there any sign that the artist or band exists in real life? Are there any upcoming concerts and can you buy a ticket for a gig? Is there footage of past concerts on YouTube? Has an established record label released their singles or albums? Try going to the source. Song creators often - but not always - publish their generated tunes on the Suno or Udio platforms, where they can be found by other users. The catch is that you'll have to sign up for an account to get access. Users can look up songs by track name or the creator's handle, and browse genres and playlists. B Song tags Deezer has been flagging albums containing AI-generated songs, as part of its efforts to be more transparent as it battles streaming fraudsters looking to make quick money through royalty payments. The Deezer app and website will notify listeners with an on-screen label - 'AIgenerated content' - to point out that some tracks on an album were created with song generators. The company's CEO says the system relies on in-house technology to detect subtle but recognizable patterns found in all audio created by AI song generators. The company hasn't specified how many songs it has tagged since it rolled out the feature in June, but says up to 18% of songs uploaded to its platform each day are AI-generated. Song scanners There are a few third-party services available online that promise to determine whether a song is human-made or generated by AI. I uploaded a few songs I generated to the online detector from IRCAM Amplify, a subsidiary of French music and sound research institute IRCAM. It said the probability that they were AI-generated ranged from 81.8% to 98% and accurately deduced that they were made with Suno. As a cross-check, I also uploaded some old MP3s from my song library, which got a very low AI probability score. But a handful of results shouldn't be taken as a sign of overall accuracy. 'The AI detector can make mistakes. It is recommended to verify the results,' the detector warns. The drawback with IRCAM's tool is that you can't paste links to songs, so you can't check tunes that you can only hear on a streaming service. There are a few other websites that let you both upload song files and paste Spotify links for analysis, but they have their own limitations. When I tried them out for this stor Check the lyrics AI song tools can churn out both music and lyrics. Many serious users like to write their own words and plug them in because they've discovered that AIgenerated lyrics tend to be bad. Casual users, though, might prefer to just let the machine write them. So bad rhyming schemes or repetitive lyrical structures might be a clue that a song is not man-made. But it's subjective. Some users report that Suno tends to use certain words in its lyrics like 'neon,' 'shadows' or 'whispers.' If a song includes these words, it's 'a dead giveaway' that it's AI, said Lukas Rams, a Philadelphia-area resident. He has used Suno to create three albums for his AI band Sleeping with Wolves but writes his own lyrics. 'I don't know why, it loves to put neon in everything.' No easy answers AI technology is improving so quickly that there's no foolproof way to determine if content is real or not and experts say you can't just rely on your ear. 'In general, it can be difficult to tell if a track is AI-generated just from listening, and it's only becoming more challenging as the technology gets increasingly advanced,' said Mousallam of Deezer. 'Generative models such as Suno and Udio are constantly changing, meaning that old identifiers - such as vocals having a distinctive reverb - are not necessarily valid anymore.' (By Kelvin Chan - AP)
Mint
02-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
AI tracker: Passive listening is giving a boost to AI music
The rise of AI-generated music is reshaping the industry, with AI bands amassing millions of streams. As passive listening becomes the norm, human musicians face an uncertain future in a world where creativity is increasingly algorithm-driven. A rising tide of artificial intelligence (AI) bands is ushering in a new era where work will be scarcer for musicians, reported AFP. Whether it's Velvet Sundown's 1970s-style rock or country music projects 'Aventhis' and 'The Devil Inside,' bands whose members are pure AI creations are seeing more than a million plays on streaming giant Spotify. No major streaming service clearly labels tracks that come entirely from AI, except France's Deezer. Meanwhile, the producers of these songs tend to be unreachable. Artistes see the rise of AI music as a sign of how generic and formulaic genres have become. AI highlights the chasm between music people listen to 'passively' while doing other things and 'active' listening in which fans care about what artists convey, said producer and composer Yung Spielburg. At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) held in Shanghai recently, more than 150 robots were showcased by China in what appears to be the country's largest and most advanced lineup to date. The robots could be seen serving craft beer, playing mahjong, stacking shelves, and boxing, AFP reported. Organizers said the forum involved more than 800 companies, showcasing over 3,000 products, with the most popular exhibits displaying human skills, even badly. At one booth, a robot played drums, half a beat out of time, to Queen's 'We Will Rock You', for instance. Microsoft announced a new experimental mode in its Microsoft Edge browser called Copilot Mode. Switched on (the user has to actively make the choice), 'you enable innovative AI features in Edge that enhance your browser,' said the company in a blog post, explaining the features you may experience: 'It doesn't just wait idly for you to click but anticipates what you might want to do next. It doesn't just give you endless tabs to sift through but works with you as a collaborator that makes sense of it all.'
New York Post
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
How to tell if that song is AI-generated? Here are some things to check
Is it The Velvet Underground or Velvet Sundown? The fictitious rock group, Velvet Sundown, which comes complete with AI-generated music, lyrics and album art, is stoking debate about how the new technology is blurring the line between the real and synthetic in the music industry, and whether creators should be transparent with their audience. Computer software is widely used in music production, and artificial intelligence is just the latest tool that disc jockeys, music producers and others have added to their production pipeline. But the rise of AI song generators such as Suno and Udio is set to transform the industry because they allow anyone to create songs with just a few prompts. 4 If you encounter a new song that leaves you wondering whether it's 100% made with AI, there are some methods that could reveal how it was created. StockPhotoPro – While some people do not care whether they're listening to AI-generated music, others might be curious to know. If you encounter a new song that leaves you wondering whether it's 100% made with AI, there are some methods that could reveal how it was created. Do a background check If you're wondering who's behind a song, try some old-fashioned detective work. The 'most obvious cues' come from 'external factors,' said Manuel Mousallam, head of research and development at streaming service Deezer. Does the band or artist have social media accounts? Lack of a social presence might indicate there's no one there. If they do exist online, examine the kind of content they post, and how long it goes back. Is there any sign that the artist or band exists in real life? Are there any upcoming concerts and can you buy a ticket for a gig? Is there footage of past concerts on YouTube? Has an established record label released their singles or albums? Try going to the source. Song creators often — but not always — publish their generated tunes on the Suno or Udio platforms, where they can be found by other users. The catch is that you'll have to sign up for an account to get access. Users can look up songs by track name or the creator's handle, and browse genres and playlists. But it can still be difficult to spot a song, especially if you don't know the name of the song or creator. Song tags 4 The 'most obvious cues' come from 'external factors,' said Manuel Mousallam. AP Deezer has been flagging albums containing AI-generated songs, as part of its efforts to be more transparent as it battles streaming fraudsters looking to make quick money through royalty payments. The Deezer app and website will notify listeners with an on-screen label — 'AI-generated content' — to point out that some tracks on an album were created with song generators. The company's CEO says the system relies on in-house technology to detect subtle but recognizable patterns found in all audio created by AI song generators. The company hasn't specified how many songs it has tagged since it rolled out the feature in June, but says up to 18% of songs uploaded to its platform each day are AI-generated. Song scanners 4 The Deezer app and website will notify listeners with an on-screen label to point out that some tracks on an album were created with song generators. InfiniteFlow – There are a few third-party services available online that promise to determine whether a song is human-made or generated by AI. I uploaded a few songs I generated to the online detector from IRCAM Amplify, a subsidiary of French music and sound research institute IRCAM. It said the probability that they were AI-generated ranged from 81.8% to 98% and accurately deduced that they were made with Suno. As a cross-check, I also uploaded some old MP3s from my song library, which got a very low AI probability score. The drawback with IRCAM's tool is that you can't paste links to songs, so you can't check tunes that you can only hear on a streaming service. There are a few other websites that let you both upload song files and paste Spotify links for analysis, but they have their own limitations. When I tried them out for this story, the results were either inconclusive or flagged some AI songs as human-made and vice versa. Check the lyrics 4 There are a few third-party services available online that promise to determine whether a song is human-made or generated by AI. doidam10 – AI song tools can churn out both music and lyrics. Many serious users like to write their own words and plug them in because they've discovered that AI-generated lyrics tend to be bad. Casual users, though, might prefer to just let the machine write them. So bad rhyming schemes or repetitive lyrical structures might be a clue that a song is not man-made. But it's subjective. Some users report that Suno tends to use certain words in its lyrics like 'neon,' 'shadows' or 'whispers.' If a song includes these words, it's 'a dead giveaway' that it's AI, said Lukas Rams, a Philadelphia-area resident. He has used Suno to create three albums for his AI band Sleeping with Wolves but writes his own lyrics. 'I don't know why, it loves to put neon in everything.' No easy answers AI technology is improving so quickly that there's no foolproof way to determine if content is real or not and experts say you can't just rely on your ear. 'In general, it can be difficult to tell if a track is AI-generated just from listening, and it's only becoming more challenging as the technology gets increasingly advanced,' said Mousallam of Deezer. 'Generative models such as Suno and Udio are constantly changing, meaning that old identifiers – such as vocals having a distinctive reverb – are not necessarily valid anymore.'
