The Powers That Be: Daily Spotify’s A.I. Scandal & A Spike Jonze Nightmare
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Aug 20, 2025 
Ian Krietzberg, author of Puck's The Hidden Layer, dives into the fascinating tensions between AI and the music industry. He unpacks the rise and fall of the A.I. band Velvet Sundown, which garnered a million plays before its true nature was revealed. Krietzberg also discusses CharacterAI's shift towards entertainment, exploring the implications for mental health and user attachments. The episode raises critical ethical questions about AI in creativity and the addictive nature of consumer technologies, urging a thoughtful approach.
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Platforms Are Hedging On AI Rules
- Platforms currently avoid hard stances on AI content to watch how user reaction unfolds.
- Not taking action is riskier long-term because lack of transparency will anger core users.
News, Not Quality, Drove The Spike
- The Velvet Sundown's plays spiked from news coverage and then fell as people lost interest.
- Viral attention can be temporary and doesn't prove sustained audience acceptance.
Catalog Size Versus Listener Attention
- Spotify and similar services benefit from having vast catalogs that reduce churn through discovery.
- More AI-generated tracks increase content volume but can steal scarce listener attention from human artists.