On Tuesday, Bandcamp announced on Reddit that it’s going to now not allow AI-generated music on its platform. “Music and audio that’s generated wholly or in substantial half by AI will not be permitted on Bandcamp,” the corporate wrote in a put up to the r/bandcamp subreddit. The brand new coverage additionally prohibits “any use of AI instruments to impersonate different artists or kinds.”
The coverage attracts a line that some within the music group have debated: The place does device use finish and full automation start? AI fashions aren’t artists in themselves, since they lack personhood and artistic intent. However individuals do use AI instruments to make music, and the spectrum runs from utilizing AI for minor help (cleansing up audio, suggesting chord progressions) to typing a immediate and letting a mannequin generate a complete monitor. Bandcamp’s coverage targets the latter finish of that spectrum whereas leaving room for human artists who incorporate AI instruments into a bigger artistic course of.
The announcement emphasised the platform’s need to guard its group of human artists. “The truth that Bandcamp is dwelling to such a vibrant group of actual individuals making unimaginable music is one thing we wish to shield and keep,” the corporate wrote. Bandcamp requested customers to flag suspected AI-generated content material via its reporting instruments, and the corporate stated it reserves “the fitting to take away any music on suspicion of being AI generated.”
As generative AI instruments make it trivial to supply limitless portions of music, artwork, and textual content, this writer once argued that platforms could have to actively protect areas for human expression slightly than allow them to drown in machine-generated output. Bandcamp’s determination appears to maneuver in that path, however it additionally leaves room for platforms like Suno, which primarily host AI-generated music.
Two platforms, two approaches, one flood
The coverage contrasts with Spotify, which explicitly permits AI-generated music, though its customers have expressed frustration with an inflow of AI-generated tracks created by instruments like Suno and Udio. A few of these AI music points predate the newest instruments, nonetheless. In 2023, Spotify removed tens of hundreds of AI-generated songs from distributor Boomy after discovering proof of synthetic streaming fraud, however the flood simply stored coming.
