Spotify is facing backlash following the discovery of an AI impersonator of a popular rock band on the platform.
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s frontman, Stu Mackenzie, spoke out Monday after fans flagged that an AI “artist” was impersonating the band, just a few months after they pulled their catalog from the platform in protest of CEO Daniel Ek’s massive investments in AI military tech.
Mackenzie said in a statement to The Music that he was “trying to see the irony in this situation” surrounding the impersonator. “But seriously wtf we are truly doomed,” he added.
A Reddit user shared on a forum Monday that they had received a recommendation on the automated “Release Radar” playlist for a band called King Lizard Wizard—shockingly similar to that of Australian psych rockers.
The real band yanked their vast catalog of music from the platform in July—and in their absence, the impersonator uploaded AI-generated songs in the band’s style, using plagiarized album cover aesthetics and identical song titles.
This included a song called “Rattlesnake,” which featured the same lyrics as the real band’s song of the same name, without crediting them.
“A bad AI ripoff, from aesthetics to band name, copying their songs,“ the Reddit user wrote about the impersonator. ”I find this absolutely deplorable and am now quitting my account.”
Spotify responded to the incident, saying they “strictly prohibit any form of artist impersonation.”
“The content in question was removed for violating our platform policies, and no royalties were paid out for any streams generated,” a spokesperson for the platform told Digital Music News.
A representative for King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Artificial intelligence has proven to be a challenge for Spotify, as the streamer reported in September that it had removed over 75 million AI-generated spam tracks in the past year.
The streamer announced that it had taken measures to safeguard the platform from AI-generated spam, using a filter to protect from mass uploads and SEO hacks. Tracks using deepfake technology to impersonate other artists would also be placed under greater scrutiny.
The spam tracks are a significant detriment to real artists, taking away their valuable royalty income and giving it to scammers who don’t create their own music.
Song generators like Suno have made it increasingly easy for scammers to flood streaming platforms with “AI slop”—harming artists and inundating listeners with fake music.
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard is not the only band to boycott Spotify in protest of their CEO and the platform’s policies.
American indie rockers Deerhoof removed their music from the platform in June, saying, “We don’t want our music killing people,” and experimental rock band Xiu Xiu called Spotify a “garbage hole armageddon portal” before removing their catalog from the streamer in July.
The Aussie rockers have released a whopping 27 studio albums since their debut in 2012—notably releasing five albums during both 2017 and 2022. Frontman Mackenzie has called their process “very loose,” which no doubt lends itself well to their jam-band sound.
“We swap instruments, mess around and get very loose creatively,” Mackenzie told Tony Armstrong on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s News Breakfast in 2022. “It’s very collaborative.”
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