Bandcamp pushback

It's laudable but how can the miscreants be realistically identified?

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/01/bandcamp-bans-purely-ai-generated-music-from-its-platform/

Edit: Just noticed an interesting comment by Corporate_Goon which covers some of the thorny issues relating to the article.

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Interesting read, thanks for sharing.

I have many thoughts on this, I'll just share a random few:
I'm afraid there is a somewhat magnetic relationship between income opportunities and large quantities of low quality AI content. If there is revenue to be made, someone will try to make it the easiest way possible. That's what they are up against.

I'd congratulate bandcamp on the successful PR move, but I am a little doubtful they can live up to that. As the comments on the thread mention, there is no clear line to draw, so good luck defining that.

We might be about to witness some platforms drowning in AI content, to a point where users who are less happy turn somewhere else - anyone been on facebook lately?

And we'll see some survive the switchover to mostly AI generated content, as it turns out their audience does not mind - if the slop is entertaining and the classic algorithms continue to serve you stuff you will like or interact with, a good 50% of people might not even notice the changeover.

We'll see how that pans out, if I was feeding my family as a professional creative, studio engineer or camera person I'd be scared, and I'm inwardly preparing for the end of the demand for code-writing people myself.

Sometimes I muse about how publishing evolved from "one had to be selected by some label/publishing house/newspaper/one of the three TV stations to be published" in the old days to "everyone can publish without having to pass some kind of quality check" online, to the "everyone can publish online, but you need help by some search engine to be found, too" era, to now "everyone can publish, but your chances of being viewed/listened to by a human are reduced by the sheer volume of content that is AI generated and competing with you"...

Is there a self establishing pattern that prevents a publishing sphere that is actually really open to everyone?
It is not a conspiracy for sure, and even me has come to realize it might not be the best of worlds where everyone can voice and amplify their opinion/content unfiltered.

If bandcamp can transition from "anyone can publish here" to "we'll check if we think you used AI and be a select-club of picked contributors" and turn their name into some type of quality seal for human made music, then good on them -
it will not change the fact that a lot of human media consumption time will be occupied by AI generated content, and I am not convinced one can work out the correct balance between exclusiveness, quality and low-entrance to the platform.

It might just not work out, I see a future for small, highest quality labels for certain niches that have a strong focus on human performance, but coming from a "we serve all types of audio by artists that don't necessarily perform live" warehouse concept, this really is not what you can turn into.

Interesting times, for sure.

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Dick, what would the AI artists do at the barn gathering? :D

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I just hope there will be regulation on Spotify Youtube or other providers, same as with parental guide on CDs, that a track is AI, and I want to be able to filter my playlists for AI content. That's all I need.

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TeeGee, that's not going to happen. The percentage of users who consume music vs listen to music is so high that YT, Spotify etc. need to offer constant new AI tracks. And it's no secret that Spotify even commissions AI tracks as the proceeds go directly to spotify as the creator. Does anyone care?

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