Sumerian Records founder Ash Avildsen hasn’t been one to shy away from expressing his opinion, even if it means intense backlash and scrutiny may follow. While Avildsen has grown into directing films, overseeing festivals, a comics company, and more, he initially began his rise in the metal scene as a member of the progressive metalcore outfit Reflux. While that band ultimately folded, his involvement in the scene didn’t, as booking and promoting metal tours, and the eventual launch of Sumerian Records, firmly put him on the map.
Through that label he helped launch the careers of Asking Alexandria, Animals As Leaders, Bad Omens and countless others, while also issuing records from the likes of Korn‘s Jonathan Davis, Chino Moreno‘s Crosses and countless others. Over the years Sumerian Records have branched out from their metal roots into other genres as well.
Taking to social media this afternoon (December 05th), Avildsen unloaded on the current labels and digital service providers out there that facilitate the streaming of AI music. In a post shared on his Instagram, Avildsen laid out the following diatribe, in which also suggests he has plans for a ‘solution’ to the problem set to arrive in January. Here’s what he said:
“We will not go quietly into the night as the corporate overlords once again marginalize and minimize the reward of human music.
The big three and big tech have all teamed up to usher in Al bands with open arms. Why? Same reason they allowed Spotify and YouTube to rape the artist royalty and devalue what playing a song on demand is worth. Because they get to sit in a closed door conference room, cut a deal for equity and an MG (minimum guaranteed up front advance) that solely goes to the corporation.
They are not in the individual artist business. They are in the shareholder business.
Allowing these Al bands to be uploaded to Spotify is like booking a door deal for a band and your % of the ticket money has to be split with a computer who went on stage before you with no beating hearts. That’s how the royalties work with streaming. It’s not a per play rate, it’s a numeric meritocracy designed to benefit those at the top of the food chain. Period.
There must be a velvet revolution of artists and labels that refuse to accept and comply with what the old guard is doing against our will.
We will not start 2026 off accepting defeat as humans who create and cultivate art. A solution will be presented in January that begins a new era in how the first window of music and video releases can launch that draws a clear line in the sand on which side of history musicians and those that work with them can decide to be on.
Without humans creating music and the teams around them who make daily sacrifices for the greater good so the musicians’ art can sustain their lives, none of these tech companies or distributors are worth anything. It’s time to remind these opportunists.
I welcome any CEO or exec from a major label or tech company to debate me live on the Al crisis. Thanks for reading.
–Ash Avildsen
SUMERIAN Founder”
Avildsen then went on to share the Spotify profiles of various AI bands that have amassed hundreds of thousands of monthly listeners, including Bleeding Verse. That AI-created metalcore outfit previously made headlines after Holding Absence vocalist Lucas Woodland revealed a concerning development this past October.
Via social media, Woodland stated that at the time that Bleeding Verse had managed to overtake the monthly listener count of his own band Holding Absence in roughly two months time. While that may just sound like sour grapes, the rub of that situation was that Woodland claimed that the AI modeling for Bleeding Verse had actually used the Holding Absence catalog to influence it’s algorithm to create its songs.
The prospect of having to compete for attention against an AI interpretation of your own band is worrying enough. However, the potential for proliferation of AI music is even more concerning. While humans can take days, months or even years to create songs, AI can bang them out in mere minutes.
