Bandcamp Officially Bans AI-Based Music, Emphasizing Commitment to Protect Musicians

Bandcamp (Ist)

JAKARTA - The global music distribution platform, Bandcamp, has officially taken a firm step by banning all music content produced by artificial intelligence or artificial intelligence (AI).

This decision was taken as a commitment from the company to protect the integrity of independent musicians and the creative community who have been the backbone of the platform.

In its official announcement released recently, Bandcamp management stated that the main reason behind this policy is an appreciation for the great creativity and human passion expressed by artists.

The platform insists that it is home to a community of real people who create incredible music, an ecosystem they want to protect and defend from the onslaught of generative content.

"Today we are strengthening our mission by articulating our policy on generative AI, so that musicians can continue to make music, and so that fans can be confident that the music they find on Bandcamp is created by humans," said a statement from Bnadcamp, quoted Thursday, January 15.

Based on this new rule, Bandcamp imposes an absolute ban on music and audio that is produced entirely or largely by AI.

In addition, the use of AI devices to imitate the identity of other artists or imitate certain musical styles is also strictly prohibited. This policy is in line with the company's rules regarding the prohibition of impersonation of identity and intellectual property rights violations.

Bandcamp also invites its users to play an active role in overseeing content. If users find music or audio that is suspected of being made entirely or heavily dependent on generative AI, they are asked to report it through the available reporting feature.

"If you find music or audio that appears to be entirely or heavily reliant on generative AI, please use our reporting tool to flag the content for our team to review. We reserve the right to remove any music suspected of being generated by AI," Bandcamp added.

The platform also stated that it had the right to delete any music on the basis of suspicion that the work was produced by a machine.

This step is very relevant considering the controversy over the use of AI in the music industry is getting hotter.

For comparison, streaming platform Deezer, in July last year, revealed that around 28 percent of the music uploaded to their service was entirely generated by AI. This phenomenon has sparked great concern about originality and copyright.

With this policy, Bandcamp positions itself as a platform that prioritizes human touch in the midst of the art automation trend. This bold move is expected to provide more protection for original creators from the threat of intellectual infringement and devaluation of art works due to generative AI technology.