After announcing details for their third album Like All Before You, along with two new tour dates, Julian Casablancas+The Voidz were taken by surprise when fans on Instagram voiced their dismay and concern regarding the album’s cover art.
In an Instagram post on The Voidz page, frontman and Voidz founder Casablancas shared details about their forthcoming record and credited the artist who created the album’s artwork (@dolorsilentium). Many fans were quick to call out the fact that the artist is an AI artist.
“I’m incredibly disappointed at your choice to use Al as the cover. The piece of art meant to reflect the artistry of an entire album being represented by soulless plagiarized Al production. Rather than having an artist express themselves in the style of your music, you’ve chosen to use something that steals from talented artists in an attempt to replace them and make a quick profit. The Voidz, in my mind, represented pure creative expression, however, to use something so devoid of creativity to represent your art is disrespectful to your music. Please revise the art, support a real artist and preserve creativity”
~ @egetaktak
“It’s getting harder and harder to call yall my favorite band man stop with this Al shit.”
~ @cassinidontcomehomee
“There is no need to resort to the Al slop mill for a cover image. Can you guys at least give a disclaimer that the cover is Al generated?”
~@psidew
“Just lost so much respect for you i was pretty excited to see a new voidz album, but using ai art cheapens everything about it, you definitely have the money to pay an actual artist to make art for your album will not be streming this or buying merch : (( i love your other albums a ton but plagarisim is never okay.”
~@mechaneptune
Just a few weeks ago, Interpol came under fire for inadvertently ripping off an artist for their tour campaign. The beloved band issued an immediate apology and explained that they were “under the impression that the designer we were working with was presenting us with original work.”
After seeing the flood of criticism, Casablancas took to his personal Instagram (@minorbutmajor) to respond the feedback:
whoa. some of these comments……….
/ i’ve used SSo much “man made” artist art over the years and will continue to do so (see the show posters/ approvals/ money to artists)
/ also we used a BUNCH of original art in the big booklet we worked on that comes with the vinyl (credited / got approval /paid etc) …
/ @bargainhuntersorbalmain put it all together album / posters merch stickers / that’s graphic artist working
/ the original art we wanted to use – the artist wanted to charge $150,000. What is this 1988
/ we def didn’t go out of our way to use Ai art … I just objectively – in the wilderness of art out there – liked the image and we were working with several ideas and just all objectively collectively liked it best … also
/ it’s an Ai artist who does cool airbrush anime stuff, we didn’t just type something in… cover art @dolorsilentium
Sorry to The Scared Of News Tools tribe, truly, sorry. But art plops up, best idea/image/noise/ in the end should win … and i’m not endorsing” Ai, i don’t DWELL ON IT, but it’s part of culture now … Relax, it’s iphone
Fans were grateful that Casablancas took the time to care and respond. Still, they were disappointed in the band’s choice of an AI “artist” for their album art and its effect on real artists who create directly from their imagination without scraping across the internet.
This is not the first time a band has been criticized for using AI, and it certainly will not be the last. As AI grows, there will be more copyright infringement cases in the music world and beyond.
The Voidz’s new album, Like All Before You, will be released digitally on September 20th and physically on vinyl on October 18th. Tickets to their Los Angeles and NYC tour dates go on sale this Friday, July 12 at 10AM local time.
See The Voidz’s Instagram post and comments below.
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