AI-generated artists are gaining popularity on streaming services, to the point that you’re probably listening to AI artists without even realizing it. Thankfully, however, there are ways to spot AI artists.

AI Bands Such as The Velvet Sundown Are Increasing in Popularity

In case you missed it, a band called The Velvet Sundown has been in the news recently. Not because they have big gigs coming up, or because one of their members has left the band under mysterious circumstances. Instead, it’s all because people have realized that The Velvet Sundown is an AI group. Whether entirely or partly, we know that The Velvet Sundown uses artificial intelligence to produce music.

Is this necessarily a problem? That depends entirely on your point of view. Human musicians will likely hate the fact that artificially produced music is now competing with them for people’s ears. And people who listened to the band without knowing that AI was involved may feel somewhat cheated. Others may not care one way or the other, as long as they genuinely enjoy the music.

Either way, we all need to start paying attention to what to look for to spot AI-generated bands on streaming services.

How to Spot AI Bands on Spotify and Other Streaming Services

There are several different ways to spot AI artists on streaming services, so here’s what you need to look (and listen) out for.

1. Generic/Bland Sound

Probably the most obvious telltale sign to look out for is the poor quality of music an artist is producing. Due to the nature of how generative AI works, everything that it produces will, by its very nature, be derivative. This is because it can only produce music based on what it has previously absorbed. Hence, AI-generated music just doesn’t sound that great. Instead, it will have a generic/bland sound.

Is this any different from how humans hear music and then produce sound, somewhat based on that? Not necessarily, but humans have an innate ability to experiment and invent, creating all-new genres or something that sounds original, new, and/or fresh. As it stands right now, artificial intelligence cannot replicate that, leading to music so generic and bland that it becomes a feature.

2. Multiple Albums Releases Close Together

Serious artists who write and produce their own music can go years between releasing albums. In the meantime, they will tour that album to death, making serious money now that everyone is streaming rather than buying albums. Pop artists, who often employ other people to write their songs, can release albums more frequently, but it’s still usually years, rather than months, between releases.

This isn’t the case with AI artists, as the people behind that artist can spit out a new album’s worth of songs in days, if not hours. This is how The Velvet Sundown has already managed to write, produce, and release three albums in 2025. That sort of release schedule is unheard of for a real musical act, and so it’s another obvious telltale sign to look out for.

3. The Artist Doesn’t Play Any Gigs

As mentioned in the previous entry, real musical artists generally tour between albums. Not only do tours allow fans to see an artist live, but they’re also a good source of income in the streaming era. AI artists simply cannot tour, because there are no actual people able to take to the stage.

Therefore, it stands to reason that a lack of any gigs, either previously played or forthcoming, is another surefire way to detect the involvement of artificial intelligence. Some streaming services list forthcoming gigs, so that’s an easy thing to check. You can also Google the band’s name to see where, if anywhere, they have previously performed.

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4. Zero Social Media Presence

In a similar vein to a lack of live performances, an AI artist is highly unlikely to have a big presence on social media. Now, it should be noted that some very real, human artists also don’t bother with social media for various reasons, so this is more of a telltale sign to pair with others on the list. However, it was actually an attempt to join social media that ultimately led to the demise of The Velvet Sundown.

If the “band” had retained zero social media presence, it may have never been outed as the product of artificial intelligence. However, once the very obviously AI-generated “photo” of the band was posted online, the whole charade was exposed by internet sleuths, especially when further investigation found that the members looked slightly different in each image of them.

5. Watch Out for an “AI Label”

Some streaming services, such as Deezer, have started applying AI-generated labels to artists. Either the artist itself can attach the label, or the streaming service can. Either way, the aim is to make it clear to listeners (and potential fans) that generative artificial intelligence has been used in the writing, recording, and production of the artist’s music.

If you suspect that a music artist you have started listening to may be employing AI, explore their profile to look for one of these labels. In the case of The Velvet Sundown, once the band went viral, the description on Spotify was changed to describe the band as a “synthetic music project guided by human creative direction, and composed, voiced, and visualized with the support of artificial intelligence.”

6. An Artist Is Employing AI Elsewhere

While it may be difficult to detect AI-generated music, the individuals behind the project are likely to utilize AI in other areas. And this may be easier to detect. That was definitely the case with The Velvet Sundown, whose use of AI (though suspected) wasn’t widely recognized until the band launched a social media presence. As previously mentioned, the band’s photo was clearly generated with AI, suggesting that their music may also have been created with AI.

The bottom line is that if an artist is using AI to make music, their use of other forms of AI is almost guaranteed. Short of following the Milli Vanilli example and pretending that real people are behind the band, photos of the band members will likely need to be generated with AI. The people behind the artist may also use AI to write descriptions, social media posts, and the like.

Spotting All Forms of AI Content Is Getting Trickier

Music is far from the only form of content now regularly being produced by (or at least with the help of) artificial intelligence. As generative AI improves, the chances of spotting it decrease, which is why it’s crucial to stay focused and understand what to look for to identify content produced either fully or partly by AI.

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6 Dead Giveaways the Video You’re Watching Is AI-Generated

As AI-generated video gets more capable, it’s going to become more difficult to spot. However, there are some obvious giveaways.

Start by looking for the telltale signs listed above, as any one (or more) could give an AI artist away. Beyond that, trust your instincts, and be on the lookout for something (anything) that feels decidedly off. By using a mixture of common sense and clues, and spending time actively listening to AI music, you should be able to detect music produced by AI. It’s then up to you to decide whether to listen to it or not.