An AI-generated country song has topped Billboard‘s “Country Digital Song Sales” chart in the United States — once again highlighting how ubiquitous algorithmically generated music is becoming.
The song, titled “Walk My Walk,” by a fictional group called Breaking Rust, tells an incredibly generic story about a man who has “been beat down” and got “mud on my jeans,” yet perseveres through it all. The song was accompanied by an AI slop video on Instagram, showing a man in a cowboy hat heroically walking into the sunset.
Despite the song’s generic and uninspired nature, Breaking Rust has accumulated over two million monthly listeners on Spotify, where it’s listed as a “verified artist,” despite having no bio. Several of its songs have been played over a million times. One single, which was released last month, has over 4.5 million listens.
Spotify lists an individual named Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor as the group’s “composer” and “lyricist.” As Whiskey Riff pointed out last week, he has also been generating raunchy AI slop music under the pseudonym “Defbeatsai,” which has released songs with titles including “Morning Wood,” “Her Blessed Juice,” and “Kreme Queen.”
The news comes after Billboard announced earlier this month that at least one AI or AI-assisted artist has charted over each of the preceding four weeks, a “streak suggesting this trend is quickly accelerating.”
The industry hasn’t held back, signing multi-million-dollar deals with AI artists. Even Universal Music Group, a major label that has been caught up in fierce copyright infringement lawsuits over the use of AI, announced that it had struck a licensing deal with AI music generation app Udio for an upcoming AI creation platform.
Spotify, in particular, has been in the spotlight over a tidal wave of AI slop hitting the platform. The company recently announced new policies to protect artists against “spam, impersonation, and deception,” but stopped short of banning AI music outright.
Breaking Rust is far from the first fictional AI group to gain widespread attention. Earlier this year, an “indie rock band” called The Velvet Sundown made headlines after it turned out to be a “synthetic music project,” designed to be an “ongoing artistic provocation.”
It’s a worrying trend, as real music artists continue to struggle to break out and make a living.
“AI bands are going to make it even harder for real human artists to break through and get a following, at least using streaming apps like Apple Music, Spotify, etc.” Indiana University assistant professor of music technology Jason Palamara told Newsweek.
More on AI music: Billboard Says at Least One AI-Generated “Artist” Is Charting Every Week Now
