Counterparts frontman Brendan Murphy has called out a band he suspects of being AI-generated.<\/p>\n
It comes after a metalcore band called Broken Avenue reached nearly 130,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, where they are listed as a \u201cverified artist\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, fans of Counterparts, as well as other metal bands, such as Knocked Loose<\/a> and the Devil Wears Prada, have noted similarities between Broken Avenue\u2019s music and artwork and those of the aforementioned bands.<\/p>\n The majority of tracks on the Broken Avenue profile have also been uploaded in the past six weeks, raising further suspicion that the artist is AI-generated.<\/p>\n All songs credit James Tolby as composer and lyricist, except one 2011 EP that lists Santana Marsh as the composer, per Stereogum<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now, Counterparts frontman Murphy has joined those questioning the band. Taking to X, he shared an image of their songwriter credits, writing: \u201c$100 to anyone who can get me the legit contact info for James Trolby I won\u2019t do anything fucking crazy you won\u2019t get in trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n $100 to anyone who can get me the legit contact info for James Trolby I won\u2019t do anything fucking crazy you won\u2019t get in trouble https:\/\/t.co\/5cKDH7A1Sn<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/tOReNdYSrr<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 brendan murphy (@brendan905) December 31, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n A similar story made headlines back in October, when Cardiff rock group Holding Absence hit out at an AI \u2018band\u2019 who had overtaken their streaming figures on Spotify<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Jorja Smith<\/a>\u2019s record label recently hit out at a song made using AI, which it alleges \u201ccloned\u201d her voice<\/a>.<\/p>\n The use of AI in music has been a topic that has been widely debated over the past couple of years, and is criticised by many artists. In February last year, Kate Bush<\/a>,\u00a0Damon Albarn<\/a>,\u00a0Paul McCartney<\/a>,\u00a0Annie Lennox<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0over 1,000 artists released a silent album in protest against AI being used in music<\/a>\u00a0and changes to copyright AI laws planned by the UK government.<\/p>\n At the end of 2024, a study shared the stark warning that\u00a0people working in music were likely to lose a quarter of their income to AI over the next four years<\/a>, and, early this year, streaming platform\u00a0Deezer stated that around 10,000 AI-generated tracks were submitted to the platform daily<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 making up around 10 per cent of all its music uploads.<\/p>\n In May, McCartney,\u00a0Elton John<\/a>,\u00a0Coldplay<\/a>,\u00a0Dua Lipa<\/a>,\u00a0Florence Welch<\/a>, Kate Bush and\u00a0Robbie Williams<\/a>\u00a0were\u00a0among the 400 artists to sign a letter, asking for Keir Starmer to back proposals that would protect copyrighted artistic works from AI infringement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Other artists also\u00a0pushed for the PM to protect the work of creatives ahead of a UK-US tech<\/a>\u00a0deal laid out during\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s visit in September.<\/p>\n In that same month,\u00a0Spotify confirmed that it was cracking down on AI by removing 75million \u201cspammy tracks\u201d and targeting impersonators<\/a>. More recent figures showed that\u00a097 per cent of people \u201ccan\u2019t tell the difference\u201d between real and AI music<\/a>.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, an AI-generated \u2018band\u2019 called The Velvet Sundown made headlines after\u00a0gaining around 400,000 monthly Spotify listeners<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 despite existing for less than a month.\u00a0A \u2018spokesperson\u2019 for the viral act later admitted that he was running a hoax aimed at \u201cthe media\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n More recently, AI-generated artist Xania Monet made headlines for\u00a0signing a multimillion-dollar record deal<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0becoming the first AI artist to chart on the US Billboard rankings<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n