Bandcamp takes a stand against AI music, banning it from the platform

The euphony organisation level Bandcamp announced successful a Reddit station connected Tuesday that it’s banning AI-generated euphony and audio.

“We privation musicians to support making music, and for fans to person assurance that the euphony they find connected Bandcamp was created by humans,” the institution said.

Bandcamp’s caller guidelines authorities that euphony and audio generated “wholly oregon successful important portion by AI” is not permitted, and that it volition not let the usage of AI tools to impersonate different artists oregon styles.

So, if Drake had released “Taylor Made Freestyle” connected Bandcamp, helium would’ve had a occupation (and possibly it would’ve been for his ain good).

As AI euphony generators similar Suno go much sophisticated, it’s go harder to debar synthetic euphony — songs created with AI tools person topped charts connected Spotify and Billboard. AI euphony present sounds existent capable that it tin beryllium hard to decipher however it was made.

In 1 high-profile example, Telisha Jones, a 31-year-old successful Mississippi, utilized Suno to crook her (supposedly organic) poesy into the viral R&B opus “How Was I Supposed To Know.” Her AI “persona,” Xania Monet, received aggregate bids for grounds deals earlier signing with Hallwood Media successful a woody reportedly worthy $3 million.

The legality of AI-generated euphony is up successful the air. Suno is presently facing lawsuits from 3 large labels — Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group — alleging that the institution trained its AI connected copyrighted worldly from the labels.

This hasn’t deterred Silicon Valley, though. Suno raised a $250 cardinal Series C circular successful November, which valued the institution astatine $2.4 billion. While the rise was led by Menlo Ventures, Suno saw information from Hallwood Media, the institution backing Xania Monet.

The ineligible outlook doesn’t look bully for artists. In a caller lawsuit, a justice ruled that Anthropic could usage copyrighted books that it downloaded illegally to bid its AI. What was illegal, the justice said, was that Anthropic pirated the books that it fed into its AI models. The institution got a $1.5 cardinal slap connected the wrist, which isn’t precise important for a institution that’s valued astatine $183 billion.

Unlike Spotify oregon Apple Music, Bandcamp doesn’t wage artists per stream. Instead, Bandcamp allows artists to merchantability their euphony digitally alongside carnal products similar merch and CDs.

Bandcamp lone makes wealth from its chopped of artists’ income — but adjacent if it presents itself arsenic an artist-first distributor, a tech institution is inactive a tech company, and the bottommost enactment matters. Looking astatine Bandcamp’s determination optimistically, possibly the institution is confirming what artists anticipation to beryllium true: nary 1 is really spending wealth to bargain AI-generated music, astatine slightest not connected Bandcamp.