Bandcamp Bans AI-Generated Music

I was perusing Bandcamp’s shoegaze listings last year when I stumbled across an intriguing album. The music was as dreamy and ethereal as I could have hoped for, filled with delicate melodies and equally delicate female voices singing in multiple languages. My first reaction was that I’d just discovered a promising new favorite and naturally, I began drafting a review for Opus. Some doubts began to surface, though, as I dove deeper into the artist’s catalog.

The music was almost too perfectly ethereal. Plus, it seemed unlikely that one artist could master so many languages to sing that well in them. Those factors, combined with the artist’s prolific output in a very short span of time and some rather generic-looking artwork, soon became red flags. Had I, in fact, fallen for something AI-generated? Out of curiosity, I ran the music and artwork through AI detection utilities and sure enough, they flagged it all as most likely the product of AI.

Feeling slighted by (potentially) AI-generated music is pretty trivial compared to everything else going on right now. Nevertheless, I did feel misled, as if the artist in question couldn’t rely on their own skills and so they hid behind technology — technology that simply churns out best guesses of what it “thinks” users want to hear based on millions of songs that’ve been scraped and used without permission or compensation.

All that is to say, I’m pleased with Bandcamp’s recent announcement that they’re banning all music “that is generated wholly or in substantial part by AI.” The announcement is short and sweet, highlighting the human and communal aspects of music and pushing back against the sort of consumerist mindset that’s best exemplified by generative AI slop.

Not surprisingly, some people aren’t too happy with Bandcamp’s announcement, insisting that it lacks nuance and understanding or that Bandcamp was somehow bullied into their decision. And to be fair, some nuance is necessary here. For starters, what does it mean, exactly, for music to be “substantially” generated by AI? In other words, how much generative AI is too much? Generating human voices and realistic performances is probably out, but what about generating and manipulating beats and samples, synthesizing effects, or using software plugins that use AI? There are numerous edge cases here worth considering.

Also, how will Bandcamp prevent abuse of their new policy? From their announcement: “If you encounter music or audio that appears to be made entirely or with heavy reliance on generative AI, please use our reporting tools to flag the content for review by our team.” Bandcamp’s statement suggests that humans will be reviewing any such reports, which is a good thing. But if the internet has shown us anything, it’s that people love to file false reports in order to target, harass, and silence others. It requires no stretch of the imagination to envision a campaign that targets an artist by flooding Bandcamp’s system with false claims that their music is AI-generated. Such a campaign could potentially result in their music being removed erroneously, which would be a real financial blow for those who rely on Bandcamp for income.

I have to imagine that Bandcamp has had multiple conversations concerning these very scenarios and how to handle them. Or at least I hope they have, otherwise this announcement — however, promising it might sound — will be impossible to enforce fairly and equitably.