A mysterious indie rock band called The Velvet Sundown has shot to popularity on Spotify, and may be powered by AI. Their debut track, Dust on the Wind, has racked up over 380,000 plays since 20 June and helped attract more than 470,000 monthly listeners.

The song bears a resemblance to the 1977 Kansas hit Dust in the Wind, prompting suspicion from Reddit users. The band's profile picture and Instagram photos appear AI-generated, while the band members listed - such as 'Milo Rains' and 'Rio Del Mar' - have no online trace.

Despite the clues, Spotify does not label the group as AI-generated. Their songs are appearing in curated playlists like Discover Weekly. Only Deezer, a French streaming service, has identified The Velvet Sundown as likely created by generative AI models like Suno or Udio.

Deezer began tagging AI music in June and now detects over 20,000 entirely artificial tracks each day. Another AI band, The Devil Inside, has also gained traction. Their song Bones in the River has over 1.6 million plays on Spotify, but lacks credited creators.

On Deezer, the same track is labelled as AI-generated and linked to Hungarian musician L