Recommendations of the Editorial team
The Andrew Frelon, who appears under pseudonym, who on Wednesday opposite the Rolling Stone as spokesman for the viral AI band The Velvet Sundown Occurred and a Twitter account that allegedly represents the band, now says in a contribution to medium that the campaign was an elaborate dizziness. One who was directed against the media. The band’s official Spotify page also published a hint in which Frelon-who confirmed that the band created its music with the Ki-Tool Suno-was not connected to the band. Velvet Sundown currently has over 700,000 listeners on Spotify.
Frelon’s unveiling: fake account and “socio-technical tricks”
A X-Account linked with the Spotify page from Velvet Sundown wrote the Rolling Stone a message in the early Thursday morning with the request for correction. He confirmed the distance from Frelon. “We understand the fascination that our project triggers. And we are not here to destroy the mystery,” it said in a direct message on Thursday morning. “But we are here to correct the facts. The Velvet Sundown is a multidisciplinary art project that combines music, analog aesthetics and speculative storytelling. Even if we welcome ambiguity as part of our narrative concept, we ask that reporting about us is based on verifiable sources. (The “band” has not yet responded to another request for comment.)
In a detailed article on medium, Frelon claims that he took advantage of the low social media presence of Velvet Sundown. And a account that was already started in March transformed into the allegedly “official profile” of the band. From there, he writes, he applied a long list of “socio -technical” tricks. Including interactions with media. Everything to give the appearance that it is the band’s actual profile. The aim was to test journalists. “From previous projects I knew a lot about the dynamics of journalistic reporting,” he writes. “I thought it was funny to criticize journalists in general. Because they did not contact us’ for a statement.” On Wednesday, Frelon also told the Rolling Stone that he was very interested in “art swindling”. (The telephone number, from which Frelon called and who has the preselection 514, is now “no longer in operation”.)
AI band is celebrated despite obvious origin
Despite the obvious AI origin of photos and music, Velvet Sundown was included in numerous Spotify playlists. And achieved considerable audience, which led to far -reaching reporting. Glenn McDonald, former “data alchemist” at Spotify, told the Rolling Stone that their visibility on the streaming service symbolizes a change. “Away from comprehensible algorithms with a strong connection to real human listening behavior and communities” and towards AI-controlled systems. Those that can “select songs for recommendations based on their audio features”.