Spotify fails to detect King Gizzard AI impersonations
An impostor Spotify account named King Lizard Wizard uploaded AI-generated music mimicking Australian band King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's songs, accumulating tens of thousands of streams over weeks before removal. Spotify's moderation systems failed to detect the impersonation promptly, and this was reportedly not the first such attempt targeting the band.
What happened
An impostor account named King Lizard Wizard appeared on Spotify uploading AI-generated music that mimicked King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's psychedelic rock style, with tracks featuring titles and lyrics identical to the original band's songs.
One song, "Rattlesnake," reportedly amassed over 32,000 plays before the account was removed. The AI copycat was discovered by fans on Spotify's "Release Radar" algorithmic playlist, and it took weeks for Spotify to remove the offending material.
Reported impact
For King Gizzard and fans, the AI impersonation confused listeners, diluted the band's artistic identity, and diverted attention and potential income to an unauthorised clone that reuses their creative work without consent.
The case highlights how easy it has become to fabricate convincing AI replicas of musicians and distribute them at scale on mainstream platforms before human review occurs.
Index analysis
The incident stems from a combination of accessible generative-AI music tools and weak, scale-driven moderation systems that rely heavily on automated detection and user reporting rather than proactive, manual checks.
This was not the first impersonation attempt: a separate King Gizzard impersonator had previously attempted to cash in on the band's royalties using AI, suggesting Spotify should have been manually screening for impostors.
Governance controls
Spotify stated that artist impersonation is prohibited and that no royalties were paid out for the streams generated by the fake account.
While Spotify announced new policies to protect artists against spam, impersonation, and deception in September, AI impersonations continued landing in users' Release Radar and Discover Weekly playlists.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.