King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, the celebrated Australian prog-rock outfit, made a bold move by leaving Spotify in July, joining a growing chorus of artists who challenge the streaming giant. Frontman Stu Mackenzie openly criticized Spotify’s CEO, Daniel Ek, over the company’s investment in an AI-powered defense firm, a topic he framed as part of a broader suite of concerns about Spotify’s practices.
Now, two questions loom: who benefits from AI-driven imitations, and what does this mean for artists who pull their catalogs from major platforms? In a troubling twist, an impersonator has begun cloning the band’s distinctive sound using generative AI. A Reddit user recently spotted a Release Radar track that bore a striking resemblance to King Gizzard, raising alarms about copyright and authenticity.
The song in question, titled “Rattlesnake,” appears under an alias almost identical to the real band—“King Lizard Wizard.” The coincidence is hard to miss: the real King Gizzard also has a song named “Rattlesnake.” More troubling is that the fake track uses lyrics that mirror the original, and the arrangement imitates the band’s hallmark style. Compounding the issue, every track under the counterfeit “King Lizard Wizard” profile on Spotify matches a corresponding King Gizzard track in both title and lyric content, suggesting the perpetrator supplied lyrics to an AI engine to replicate the band’s signature sound.
A quick search confirms that Spotify still shows King Gizzard’s abandoned official profile, with the knockoff profile appearing immediately beneath it in recommendations. The counterfeit has accrued tens of thousands of streams since its upload last month, a striking illustration of how a platform can amplify deceptive content.
This situation isn’t entirely new for the band. Platformer reported last month that Spotify has struggled with impersonation, including another account that uploaded subdued, “muzak”-style variations of King Gizzard’s songs. In this light, some observers argue that King Gizzard would warrant heightened, manual oversight on Spotify’s scales for AI-generated misuses, yet the platform has not issued a comment to inquiries from the press.
Visuals accompanying the fake tracks also appear to be AI-generated, and some listings credit Stu Mackenzie as both composer and lyricist, a misrepresentation that further erodes trust. When fans search for King Gizzard, they often encounter the genuine profile, but the counterfeit remains just a click away, with the top search result being the AI-rendered version of “Rattlesnake.”
Fans have reacted with disgust and disappointment. A Reddit user who uncovered the impersonation lamented the lack of authenticity and vowed to leave the service, describing the AI ripoff as an insult to the band’s integrity and to fans who support them financially and artistically.
The episode underscores a broader challenge: how streaming services regulate content in an era where AI can generate convincing copies of real artists’ work. Spotify has introduced new protections aimed at curbing spam, impersonation, and deception, but the persistence of AI-based duplicates in Release Radar and Discover Weekly playlists suggests ongoing gaps in enforcement.
This isn’t merely a curiosity; it signals a structural tension between removing counterfeit material and allowing the platform to host innovative AI-generated content that can both attract and mislead listeners. While AI-generated music has occasionally found a following and even achieved commercial success, it also raises questions about intellectual property, musician rights, and what counts as fair use in the digital age.
If the industry intends to curb misleading AI copies, it may need stronger, more visible interventions and clearer attribution standards. Should platforms proactively police AI reproductions of recognized artists, or should they permit a broader spectrum of AI creativity with robust watermarking and opt-in controls? The debate is sure to intensify as AI capabilities advance—and as artists decide whether to disengage from platforms that struggle to safeguard their work.
