King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard hit back at AI Spotify replacement: “We are truly doomed”
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have responded to the alleged AI band that curiously appeared in their place on Spotify after the Australian psychedelic-rock titans removed their discography from the platform.
The series of uncredited King Gizzard covers gained traction on the platform due to the algorithms used behind the scenes. The songs, allegedly generated by artificial intelligence, were uploaded to an artist page called King Lizard Wizard, and they even credited the band’s frontman Stu Mackenzie as the composer.
Following this, the copycat songs reportedly began to appear in users ‘Release Radars’, which allows them to listen to the freshest uploads via a playlist that updates itself.
King Gizzard frontman Mackenzie shared a response to the situation, telling The Music that he was “trying to see the irony in this situation,” before adding, “But seriously wtf we are truly doomed.”
Earlier this year, the band publicly lashed out at the service in a boycott of the platform’s military investments.
It was announced in June that Spotify CEO Daniel Ek led a €600million investment into Helsing, an AI military start-up producing drones, aircraft, and submarines. This investment led to Ek being named chairman of the company.
At the time, King Gizzard wrote, “A PSA to those unaware: Spotify CEO Daniel Ek invests millions in AI military drone technology. We just removed our music from the platform.”
Reacting to news of the AI impersonator on their platform, Spotify shared a short 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.”
In October, it was announced that Spotify planned to “develop responsible AI products” in collaboration with major labels. The new initiative is in collaboration with Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Merlin, and Believe.
Additionally, Spotify recently outlined plans to partner with ChatGPT to offer recommendations to users, which the streamer said is “a powerful new way for fans to connect with the artists and creators they love conversationally”.
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