What in the World, What in the World, Meet Velvet Sundown - the band that doesn’t really exist

What in the World

What in the World

Meet Velvet Sundown - the band that doesn’t really exist

July 7, 2025

11 minutes

Available for over a year

The Velvet Sundown have become a viral hit. The band have over a million streams on Spotify and are generating much discussion across the music community.

Except the band and its members don’t actually exist.

After weeks of speculation about whether they were real or not, the band have confirmed that they were AI. This has raised many questions about the ethics around AI and music, and whether it actually matters if an artist and their work is human or not. BBC journalist Tamzin Kraftman talks us through the story and discusses the development of AI in the music industry.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld

Email: [email protected]

WhatsApp: +44 330 12 33 22 6

Presenter: Iqra Farooq

Producers: Josh Jenkins and Emilia Jansson

Editor: Emily Horler