You probably know two things about Aussie psyche rockers, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. One: they’re probably the most prolific band on the planet, regularly releasing three or four new albums a year. And two: they’re among the most prominent Spotify refuseniks, having removed their music from the platform in July in protest at Daniel Ek’s investment in military tech company Helsing.
Now, in a development you could have predicted, they’ve been targeted by AI grifters. Earlier this month, a new artist appeared on Spotify called King Lizard Wizard, which seemed to specialise in psych rock and sported similar song titles and artwork to the Aussie band.
It was, of course, a fake AI band, and Spotify have now removed the impostors from the platform, saying in a statement: “Spotify strictly prohibits 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.”
King Gizzard’s frontman Stu MacKenzie said he was “trying to see the irony in this situation” after the band’s departure from Spotify this summer, but added, “Seriously wtf – we are truly doomed.”
The incident does show how difficult it is for the likes of Spotify to keep on top of the sheer volume of AI slop that is being generated. In September, the platform announced that it had removed 75 million tracks from fake AI artists specifically designed to generate plays and thus royalties. Most of those are removed by spam filters, but as in the case of King Gizzard, it seems that these are far from foolproof.
In the meantime, you can access the real King Gizzard’s 27-album-strong back catalogue - for a ridiculous name-your-own-price, um, price - via their Bandcamp page, a platform which, as we know, is not only artist-friendly but also (so far, of course) an AI slop-free zone.
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