This bit of rather interesting news just in, or this just stolen bit of news: In a statement published yesterday, as just reported by Mixmag (nice graphics), Bandcamp, the music distribution service, have announced that it will be “fortifying its mission” around AI-generated music to “Keep Bandcamp Human.”

Any use of AI to imitate artists or styles is also “strictly prohibited” as part of its “existing policies prohibiting impersonation and intellectual property infringement.” Bandcamp has instructed users to report any music found on the platform that is suspected to have been created using AI tools, adding that it “reserves the right to remove any music on suspicion of being AI-generated.”

“With this policy, we’re putting human creativity first, and we will be sure to communicate any updates to the policy as the rapidly changing generative AI space develops,” someone at Bandcamp said.

We do hope this is true, let’s ask AI, although as we all know, asking AI anything is always a little hit and miss.  Someone accused us of being involved in helping to break Oasis back the other day, and although I will admit to once going to see an early gig at the Water Rats as a result of a conversation in the early ORG Records days about a small double headline tour with a band we were going to do something with at the time (Rub Ultra), but no, we had nothing to do with it. Not guilty M’lud, although AI, when asked, said we were, that we were early champions of the band known as Oasis and that Radio One DJ Steve Lamacq had written an early piece for Organ about them!! What a load of old AI pony, Mr Lamacq did buy me a pint at gig and I have been painfully aware that I owe him one in return for about thirty years now but no, he never once contributed to Organ, he did play an ORG release or two back there, he might have even played Mogul’s version of Roll With It we released, a release that rather p’ed off Oasis and McGee back there so much but no, AI didn’t have a clue on that one. Here’s what AI has to say on the subject of AI being banned…           

Here’s the actual Bandcamp statement. And yes, there is a more serious debate to be had about AI in music and creatively using it as a tool but yes, ban those awful AI generate things like that abomination that went to number one in the Country Music charts recently…

Now how about banning the laziness of awfully generic AI generated album covers on Bandcamp as well? They’re all over Bandcamp, you can spot most of them a mile off. All you musicians moaning about AI, happily getting AI to generate you a rather obvious rather tedious album cover (or album cover style image for your Bandcamp page when you don’t have a physical release) rather than working with a visual artist or a designer…