writing | Music | Artificial Intelligence
Over the past week, many people have been talking about a new “band” called the Velvet Sundown. When they first appeared on Spotify and got some modest traction with a half million spins, people took notice. Many identified the band’s music as likely AI created, and mainstream media wrote about it.
In the past few days, the Velvet Sundown posted: “The Velvet Sundown is a synthetic music project guided by human creative direction, and composed, voiced, and visualized with the support of artificial intelligence. 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.”
Laurel Canyon-inspired folk-rock
The Velvet Sundown plays the sort of music that I like, a genre I would describe as “Laurel Canyon-inspired 1960s-1970s folk-rock aesthetic”.
The AI created music that is perfectly okay but not great, the same feel I get from much of AI text creation. The music seems well rounded, lacking the sharp edges that make music interesting.
I’m reminded as I listen to the Velvet Sundown of the kind of music I’d hear in a hotel lobby, you know - those covers of popular songs re-recorded in a studio by somebody other than the original artists to avoid paying full royalties.
As a contrast, one of my favorite new (real) bands, The Heavy Heavy out of Brighton, UK plays a similar kind of music but has something extra, surprising twists and turns. I’ve seen the Heavy Heavy live twice but wouldn’t see the Velvet Sundown if it were a real band.
Ethics of AI generated art
I’m torn on the ethics of how the Velvet Sundown created this music.
On one hand, I am royally pissed that the big tech companies like Meta and OpenAI steal work from people like me to train their models. Dozens of my books have been used to train the LLMs without my permission or my publishers’ permission.
The Velvet Sundown created their music on the backs of others’ hard work.
Obviously, the music of countless artists was used to train the AI the created music by The Velvet Sundown. That sucks for those artists who weren’t paid for their work to be used in this way.
However, I am a believer in ethical uses of AI, particularly how AI can help to modify somebody’s own work to create a derivative.
For example, I have a private chatbot with 20 years of posts like this one plus other content I have created like transcripts of speeches, and I use that private chatbot to help me write. It’s my work and I use AI to help me.
And yes, there are those who push back on any new technology.
In the past, musicians fought drum machines, electric guitars, microphones, auto-tune, and other technology. Many artists flat out hate AI.
While I understand that perspective and I do hate that my work was stolen by the big tech firms, I completely embrace what AI can do for artists!
Here are a few interesting takes on this story:
Nobody Cares If Music Is Real Anymore by Ian Bogost in The Atlantic
Velvet Sundown by Bob Lefsetz
Name that band
My friend Doug and I were talking about the Velvet Sundown. He said: “I'd be interested in how the name of the band was chosen. Was that AI or human?”
I said almost is was almost certainly AI with a simple prompt like this:
DMS: "You are an A&R executive for a major record label. You have just signed a new folk-rock band and the band needs a new name evocative of the kind of music they play. Please come up with some band names. The music is similar to the 1960s - 1970s Laurel Canyon sound, reminding listeners of a simpler time of peace and love."
I ran this prompt on ChatGPT and got some really interesting band names!
ChatGPT: Absolutely—here are some evocative band name ideas that fit the Laurel Canyon-inspired folk-rock aesthetic. These names suggest warmth, nostalgia, nature, and the spirit of 1960s–70s California:
🌞 Nature & Place-Inspired
Canyon Light
Sunset Maple
Echo Valley Revival
The Westward Pines
Topanga Dusk
Golden Laurel
Cedar & Sage
Ocean Dust
The Painted Hills
Juniper Road
🎵 Retro & Poetic
Hummingbird Radio
Yesterday’s Caravan
The Violet Hour
Kindred Way
Paper Lanterns
The Evermores
Woodsmoke & Wine
Songs for June
Cottonwood Choir
Evening Bell
✌️ Peace & Love Vibes
Strawberry Moon
The Dreaming Kind
Peacefield Revival
The Wandering Light
Havenfolk
Rosewood Communion
Lovefern
Halcyon Caravan
Sunfolk Revival
The Golden Hour Union
AI is here. It helps artists to create.
But it doesn’t replace us.
