Overview

• Andrew Frelon admitted in a July 3 Medium post that his role as the band’s pseudonymous spokesperson was an elaborate art hoax to attract media attention.
• The Velvet Sundown’s Spotify-linked X account rejected Frelon’s claims and framed the project as a multidisciplinary blend of music, analog aesthetics and speculative storytelling.
• Using AI tools like Suno, the project generated two albums and amassed over 850,000 monthly Spotify listeners through algorithmic curation.
• Experts warn that opaque recommendation systems have propelled AI-generated acts without clear disclosure of synthetic content on major streaming platforms.
• Industry leaders, including APRA AMCOS CEO Dean Ormston, are pressing for enforceable rules on AI training data, content labeling and creators’ royalty protections.