Counterparts Frontman Calls Out Suspected AI-Generated Metalcore Act Broken Avenue

There's a new notable AI imposter on the DSPs. This time it's a metalcore band called Broken Avenue that fans are saying rips off Counterparts, Knocked Loose, and the Devil Wears Prada. They have nearly 130k monthly Spotify listeners and one of Spotify’s auto-generated “This Is” playlists (which is triggered by a popularity threshold).

Counterparts' singer Brendan Murphy recently called out the suspicious act on social media. Alongside an image of the songwriter credits listed on Spotify, Murphy wrote: "$100 to anyone who can get me the legit contact info for James Trolby I won’t do anything fucking crazy you won’t get in trouble." Time will tell if James Trolby is a real person, a pseudonym, or an AI-generated artist.

Any of this bullshit sound familiar? Earlier this year there was the whole debacle with "synthetic music project" the Velvet Sundown. The AI-generated band racked up millions of streams while insisting it was entirely human. That lie quickly crumbled within a week after a so-called spokesperson came forward about "art hoaxes," only for him to be outed as a fake spokesperson. Still, it's only noted that the Velvet Sundown is synthetic feces via a brief note in their band bio, something that could be easily overlooked by a casual listener. In a world where verified badges have mostly lost all meaning, platforms are desperately overdue in taking action to verify, let alone protect, humanity.