Will Velvet Sundown Face a Spotify Release-Volume Crackdown?

Millions of streams – and an avalanche of publicity – later, is “synthetic music project” The Velvet Sundown facing a streaming crackdown? The question is front of mind following a few curious developments on DSPs.

We noted one of those developments yesterday, when The Velvet Sundown’s release countdown for Paper Sun Rebellion – the AI act’s third 13-track work since June 5th – was abruptly pulled from Spotify. Since then, the timer has returned to the appropriate profile, which has topped 1.18 million monthly listeners.

Spotify didn’t respond to our request for comment on the subject and, to be sure, has been conspicuously quiet since The Velvet Sundown began racking up streams and headlines.

However, the streaming-availability hiccups aren’t confined to Spotify. For a time yesterday, one of The Velvet Sundown’s two albums was unavailable on YouTube as well as Apple Music; the work later returned to the platforms.

Coincidence or release-volume limit? Velvet Sundown (not The Velvet Sundown) has far more tracks on Apple Music (where the screenshot comes from) than on Spotify.

Then there’s the misclassification and absence of releases on Spotify. Yesterday, The Velvet Sundown’s Spotify profile briefly featured a single entitled “Reflections in the Glass Hour.” The track has since transitioned to the distinct Velvet Sundown (no “the”) account.

That said, a different single yet, “Cardboard Sky,” was on The Velvet Sundown’s Spotify earlier this week. Now, despite still appearing front and center on the relevant Apple Music page, the song isn’t available on either Velvet Sundown Spotify profile.

This leads to another interesting point: the sheer volume (and potential volume) of AI releases on DSPs, especially when launching fresh artist profiles is far from a challenge.

Keeping the focus on Velvet Sundown, even with the scaled-back Spotify catalog, the aforementioned Paper Sun Rebellion will push the virtual act’s track count near 40 (and over 40 if we’re including Velvet Sundown’s contributions).

Thus far, if Universal Music and other major players are concerned about The Velvet Sundown episode and its broader implications, they haven’t publicly disclosed as much. UMG chief digital officer Michael Nash downplayed the AI ascent earlier this week, and as explored above, Velvet Sundown is still chugging along (albeit with a few hiccups) on DSPs.

Time will tell whether that remains the case. It’s not exactly a secret that artificial intelligence can pump out track after track (as well as article after article, image after image, etc.).

(Of course, this doesn’t happen without humans driving the process – at least not yet. There’s a good bit of evidence regarding the actual musicians behind Velvet Sundown, but the multifaceted subject is best left for another time.)

At the intersection of the low bar for AI “creation,” the reach of certain playlists, undiscerning listening habits, a lack of upload safeguards, and the ease with which an “artist” can set sail, the pernicious problem won’t resolve itself. That might fuel a near-term crackdown; perhaps “potential streaming fraud” will prompt play-heavy AI accounts’ suspension from leading DSPs.