AI-created group Velvet Sundown disqualified from Future Sound Awards
The Future Sound Awards, often referred to as the "Grammys for AI music," celebrated its 2025 edition with a surprising twist. The AI band, Velvet Sundown, was banned from participating, causing a stir in the music industry and reigniting debates on ethics in AI-generated art.
Velvet Sundown, an AI-generated band described as "not quite human, not quite machine," was disqualified due to concerns about ethics and alignment with the awards' mission. The Future Sound Awards were established to promote the responsible and ethical use of AI in music, supporting human creators who use AI as a tool rather than technology displacing them.
The rapid production of multiple albums by Velvet Sundown in just six weeks, coupled with its use of AI to create both music and band imagery, led the awards organizers to view their entry as a "prank" that conflicted with the awards' values and submission requirements designed to protect artist rights and promote ethical AI use.
The creators of Velvet Sundown admitted that the entire project is AI-generated. The AI platform used by Velvet Sundown is called Suno. The band quickly amassed over a million streaming listeners on Spotify, raising questions about the future of music and authenticity in AI-generated art.
Every aspect of Velvet Sundown - vocals, music, lyrics, and visuals - is AI-generated. The widespread attention received by Velvet Sundown has played a key role in their disqualification, as the controversy has brought about concerns about the future of creativity, artistry, and transparency in music.
The ban was due to Velvet Sundown's methods and approach not aligning with the values of the awards. The organizers stressed that the ban was about ensuring AI tools are used responsibly and ethically rather than enabling projects that, in their view, could undermine human artists by pretending to be a traditional band without clear disclosure about AI’s role.
The controversy surrounding Velvet Sundown has intensified the debate over ethics in AI-generated art. It has brought about a need for a broader industry reckoning on the use of AI in music, highlighting ongoing debates about the ethics of AI in creative fields—whether AI creations should be treated as art on their own, and where the line should be drawn to protect human creators’ value, consent, and intellectual property.
In summary, Velvet Sundown was banned for not meeting the Future Sound Awards’ standards for ethical AI use, seen as displacing rather than supporting human artists. The band’s rapid, AI-driven output and identity blurred the lines between human and machine creativity, leading to concerns over transparency and artistic integrity. This case exemplifies broader ethical discussions on AI in arts about transparency, displacement risks, and respecting creative human agency in AI-generated work. These issues remain subject to debate as AI-generated art becomes increasingly prominent.
- The creators of the AI band, Velvet Sundown, which was banned from participating in the Future Sound Awards, revealed that the entire project was powered by an AI platform called Suno.
- The Future Sound Awards, often compared to the Grammy's for AI music, emphasized that their purpose was to promote ethical AI use in music, supporting human creators who use AI as a tool instead of allowing technology to displace them.
- The controversy surrounding Velvet Sundown has escalated debates on ethics in AI-generated art, prompting the need for a broader industry discussion on the use of AI in music, particularly the transparency, displacement risks, and respect for human creators' value, consent, and intellectual property in AI-generated work.
