Direct-to-fan platform Bandcamp said it will ban artificial intelligence-generated music and audio from its platform including any use of AI tools to impersonate other artists or styles.
The company made the announcement in a post on Wednesday (January 14).
“Something that always strikes us as we put together a roundup like this is the sheer quantity of human creativity and passion that artists express on Bandcamp every single day,” the platform said.
“The fact that Bandcamp is home to such a vibrant community of real people making incredible music is something we want to protect and maintain.”
Bandcamp said music and audio that is created “wholly or in substantial part by AI” will no longer be allowed on the platform. The company will also enforce existing policies against any use of AI tools to copy other artists or styles.
The company said: “We want musicians to keep making music, and for fans to have confidence that the music they find on Bandcamp was created by humans.”
“The fact that Bandcamp is home to such a vibrant community of real people making incredible music is something we want to protect and maintain.”
Bandcamp
Bandcamp said the new policy was driven by “the sheer quantity of human creativity and passion that artists express on Bandcamp every single day.”
Users will be able to report suspected AI-generated content through Bandcamp’s reporting tools. The company says it reserves the right to remove music based on suspicion of AI generation. The company said it will update the policy as AI technology continues to develop.
The announcement comes over four months since Bandcamp launched a new $13-a-month subscription service that is human-curated. The service gives users access to monthly record selections, listening parties, recommendations and exclusive artist content.
Bandcamp General Manager Dan Melnick at the time said: “Instead of algorithms, fans get human-curated picks from some of the best DJs and journalists in their respective areas, exclusive interviews with artists, and community listening parties.”
“Vibrant music scenes are made up of DJs, journalists, fans, and artists, and Bandcamp Clubs reflect that… As always, artists are paid fairly and sit at the heart of the experience.”
“We want musicians to keep making music, and for fans to have confidence that the music they find on Bandcamp was created by humans.”
Bandcamp
Founded in 2008, Bandcamp launched as a direct-to-consumer alternative to record labels for artists. It has since expanded its services to include features such as ticketed live-streaming and vinyl pressing. Artists like Peter Gabriel and Bjork have placed their catalogs on the platform.
Bandcamp was acquired by video game maker Epic Games in 2022, which then sold it to music licensing platform Songtradr in 2023.
Last month, the company revealed that artists and labels have been paid out $154 million via its Bandcamp Friday initiative since the program’s launch in March 2020.
At the time of writing, Bandcamp’s website says the platform has seen fans pay artists $1.65 billion, with 76,532 records sold via Bandcamp yesterday alone.
Bandcamp is the latest platform to ban AI-generated content. In July, ROKK, a streaming platform focused on rock and metal music, announced that it will not allow “fully AI-generated music” on its service.
Meanwhile, Spotify in September said it removed more than 75 million “spammy tracks” from its platform over the past year amid the explosion of generative AI tools. The streaming giant rolled out new policies for managing AI-generated content on its service to address that.
In November, French streaming platform Deezer said it receives over 50,000 fully AI-generated tracks daily, or 34% of all tracks uploaded to its platform each day.
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