Good on ya, Bandcamp! Maybe the other majors will follow your lead.
If you missed it, Bandcamp has officially banned AI generated music from its platform!
Well done.
The announcement came a few days ago, on January 13. It’s taken me a minute to write about it, but it caught my eye when it was announced. Bandcamp mentioned what makes them different in the first place. The sheer volume of human creativity and passion uploaded.
Every. Single. Day.
Bandcamp said being home to a vibrant community of real people making incredible music is something it intends to protect and maintain.
As a result, the platform has enacted a FULL BAN on music created wholly or in substantial part by artificial intelligence (AI). Any audio generated primarily by AI is no longer permitted on the site.
I will admit, I found this song a couple weeks ago – and liked it, ’til I found out it was AI. I felt creatively robbed.
The policy also takes direct aim at impersonation. Bandcamp says the use of AI tools to mimic other artists or styles is strictly prohibited under its existing rules around impersonation and intellectual property infringement.
And yes, Bandcamp wants you to narc out possible AI artists/bands. They say if you come across something you suspect is AI generated, report it. Bandcamp reserves the right to remove content believed to rely heavily on generative AI.
The move comes as AI music continues to stir controversy across the industry. Last July, streaming service Deezer revealed that 28 percent of new uploads to its platform were fully AI generated.
Deezer needs to take notice and pull a Bandcamp.
More recently, Jorja Smith’s label condemned an AI track that cloned her voice, stating that allowing such practices to spread cannot become the new normal. A campaign called Spotify Unwrapped has also emerged, urging users to boycott Spotify over AI music and other concerns.
MY 2 CENTS:
You and I should be pushing back against replacement without consent. It’s the idea that efficiency outranks expression.
Art has always been messy. Slow. Personal. Sometimes inconvenient.
That’s the point.
This isn’t about being anti-future. It’s pro-human.
What is the best way to deal with AI music? It’s not going away, that’s for sure.
Do we seperate it from real-life human bands? Have to have a label on the music (AI-generated)? What a time to be alive!
