Holding Absence Vocalist Lucas Woodland Blasts AI Band

Everyday we step closer to our demise. We’ve all been upset about AI—at least, people who care about creativity and individual rights to IP—but the way it’s affecting the music industry is also a low blow. AI musicians have been charting for a little bit now, but there’s one in particular that Lucas Woodland of Holding Absence has beef with, and that’s Velvet Sundown.

Now admittedly, I have no fuckin idea who Velvet Sundown “is,” but apparently a whole lot of others do. According to Woodland, this fake ass excuse for a band surpassed Holding Absence’s streaming numbers—including several #1 spots—on Spotify in only a couple months. Velvet Sundown was officially confirmed to be an AI “band” over the summer, but not enough people took issue with that, so actual bands have found themselves a bit lost in the weeds.

Woodland said this, and I couldn’t agree more::

“So, an AI ‘band’ who cite us as an influence (ie, it’s modelled off our music) have just overtaken us on Spotify, in only TWO months. It’s shocking, it’s disheartening, it’s insulting – most importantly – it’s a wake up call. Oppose AI music, or bands like us stop existing.

“What can we do?” – I believe we can only lobby for transparency now. Those artists should have “AI” on their Spotify artwork, so that playlists can’t sneak them onto playlists. Otherwise, violently support real music. Buy merch. Attend shows. That’s the most we can do for now.

“‘Make better music’ was my favourite take btw. These models are LITERALLY TRAINED OFF MY BAND lmao. And then releasing songs at a pace physically impossible to replicate Chess robots have been beating human world champions for 30 years now. ‘Get good’ is a petulant opinion.”

How idiotic the audacity must be to tell an actual musician to make BETTER music so AI doesn’t steal more of it. What in the actual fuck?