Velvet Sundown AI comedown

We are just over a week away from the big reveal of the Hottest 100 of Australian songs. Everyone has weighed in, from Albo to G Flip, Bernard Fanning to CSIRO. 

But a celebration of the past 50 years of music has been somewhat overshadowed by a grim peek into the future.

The Velvet Sundown (above), who amassed more than a million streams on Spotify, admitted their music, images and backstory were created by AI.

Looking at them, is that really surprising? Whoever prompted the AI image generator clearly just gave it pictures of Mumford & Sons and Kings of Leon and a vague direction to hit every stereotype possible.

But more importantly, this is another demonstration of how ill-prepared we are for the onslaught of AI in music. 

Spotify is moving towards algorithms that pick songs based on characteristics of their audio, an ideal breeding ground for AI. Musician Paul Bender discovered that it takes just 10 minutes to approve and release an AI-generated track, with no authentication required. And streaming sites are under no legal obligation to identify AI-generated music.

If there’s money to be made and a loophole to be exploited, it’s inevitable someone will step into the breach, even if it entirely misses the point of art.

At least we still have the Hottest 100 of Australian songs to look forward to. Although if You’re the Voice doesn’t win, it would be an even bigger crime than all the AI music combined.