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Chris Hance
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1/17/2026 5:02:15 AM
Bandcamp bans AI-generated music
Bandcamp’s mission is to help spread the healing power of music by building a community where artists thrive through the direct support of their fans. We believe that the human connection found through music is a vital part of our society and culture, and that music is much more than a product to be consumed. It’s the result of a human cultural dialog stretching back before the written word.
Similarly, musicians are more than mere producers of sound. They are vital members of our communities, our culture, and our social fabric. Bandcamp was built to directly connect artists and their fans, and to make it easy for fans to support artists equitably so that they can keep making music.
Today we are fortifying our mission by articulating our policy on generative AI, so that musicians can keep making music, and so that fans have confidence that the music they find on Bandcamp was created by humans.
Our guidelines for generative AI in music and audio are as follows:
Music and audio that is generated wholly or in substantial part by AI is not permitted on Bandcamp.
Any use of AI tools to impersonate other artists or styles is strictly prohibited in accordance with our existing policies prohibiting impersonation and intellectual property infringement.
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. We reserve 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. Thank you.
Source: https://blog.bandcamp.com/2026/01/13/keeping-bandcamp-human/
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Black Mask Special
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1/17/2026 10:29:28 AM
I totally agree with their decision. There's nothing better to hear than Human made music.
It it was up to me, there would be no AI music on IMP.
Norm.
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Larree AI
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1/17/2026 11:20:08 AM
I am all for the lyricist who can drop their words and hum a melody into Suno, and create a pro-sounding demo in minutes. It's the musical version of the 3D printer. Suno has become a part of my daily music routine. I play my guitar for 30-60 minutes in the morning, so my fingers will be loose if any playing opportunities come up during the day or night. I spend an hour or two writing songs using pencil, paper, and an acoustic guitar. And then, later in the day or evening, I jump on Suno for some playtime. Bandcamp can ban it just like churches banned Elvis Presley records. But they can't stop it from becoming the next big thing.
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Bryon Tosoff
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1/17/2026 12:24:23 PM
I am not into the rigidity or slapping down or banning Ai here, I think that is ridiculous and not showing a very forward think attitude. but to each their own.
I like to say, Ai is imitating my songs I upload, and giving me ideas that I would not thought of, right now I have a song I am adding sax to with someone I have worked with for years and performed with at gigs for probably close to 20 years. I sent Paul Wainwright my slip sliding track with my piano part and he will be working out parts for sax and other aspects, so lets not be so judgemental as to blind oneself to other possibilities'
Also tested one of my own songs at a supposed Ai call out zone which stated they could say if a song is Ai, i uploaded two songs, one with piano and my singing and another more production and the evaluation came back that it was PROBABLY Ai
lol. I will have more to say later with other examples
bryon
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W.E.Ervine
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1/17/2026 2:21:31 PM
Am, AM, AM, exactly my thoughts on the matter. Thanks for the post!
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W.E.Ervine
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1/17/2026 2:24:03 PM
---- Updated 1/17/2026 2:25:17 PM
Am Norm, exactly my thought also.
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Desperado Revue
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1/17/2026 2:46:33 PM
---- Updated 1/17/2026 2:47:19 PM
I shut down my NORM AI FM station.
From now on all AI tracks will appear on 1 station each by genre.
Norm.
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Bryon Tosoff
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1/17/2026 2:47:06 PM
Its good for getting additional ideas ! inspiration and I think that is a good thing
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Larree AI
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1/18/2026 12:59:32 PM
I agree, Bryon. AI did some interesting things with my originals that I never thought of. It presented some good arrangement ideas that I can play live.
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Scott
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1/18/2026 1:29:13 PM
My feeling is if it helps some artists, who am I to say no.
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Mike Lance
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1/19/2026 3:16:44 PM
As a tool, it's sorta fine, as far as that goes... But it's opened this Pandora's box which has led to pure AI creations topping charts (Breaking Rust's "walk my walk" and whatever this song Sweden just banned from its charts, etc). If you find it discouraging getting your music out there now, imagine how futile it will be when the market is over saturated with effortless but perfect slop created at the touch of a button by legions of people who have never had enough interest to learn an instrument or write a song. But hey, if that's the future you want for music, I can't tell you you're wrong. I just don't see the likelihood of one side of it existing without the other.
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Bryon Tosoff
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1/19/2026 3:49:23 PM
I get ya Mike and appreciate your take.People should take lessons, in whatever discipline, I dont know what to say about what you presented . It is what it is.
my own story in music
I took lessons starting in 1958, piano, going from a kid plunking simple tunes of course to classical and the last classical lesson was like 1969 , then went to jazz for a year and dropped it when the new country style age came on in the early 70s and that was fun learning those tunes, it was fun learning tunes and playing in bands and enjoyed the whole process of how country music started to changed back then.
I still enjoy the old tunes and played the Hank Williams or Johnny Cash tunes and the many others from way back when who played those three chords tunes and spoke the truth with their soul and experiences.
I finished doing that genre, working in bands etc. I started doing some pop works come the 80s, did like the 80s and 90s a lot,
Had a resurgence and interest in the jazz vibe in the 2000 era, so worked my self diligently for a year spending hours and hours a day to get my chops going in that, reading studying the jazz genre, so did that and blues and fusion stuff and happened to play in a couple bands from like 2003 - 2014 2015 or so and do the occasional special event or gig ,but mostly just solo in easy listening styles and of course jazz too. and still love doing arrangements of good old standards and play for fun now not so much gigging the last few years
Right now.
I am using Ai. using it as a tool and getting ideas from what I upload ,that being my songs, from pop classical and jazz. like I posted earlier just using it to get ideas, and how a number of albums I like to redo and getting ideas from what Suno Ai has been giving me for recording new revamps of my older works and still hope to continue writing new tunes , anyways, thanks for your post Mike, you are always cerebral in really have depth in your approach and blogs here, much thanks
bryon
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Mike Lance
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1/19/2026 3:51:19 PM
---- Updated 1/19/2026 3:54:10 PM
Also, expect even lower compensation for artists from streaming platforms as this shit floods the services.
Edit: this post was written just before, but published immediately after Bryon's reply... obviously the "shot" to which I am referring is the pure AI creations and not those songs which someone put at least sone effort into.
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Mike Lance
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1/19/2026 4:00:04 PM
You are a phenomenal musician and an inspiration, Bryon (sudenote, it took me four attempts before autocorrect stopped trying to change your name to Brian or "trying"... fucking AI lol). Your credentials make your position on AI surprising to me, but I appreciate the alternate viewpoint. I just have a great deal of apprehension about where this is going. Music has been my passion for a long time, and I have felt a sharp decline in my aspirations since AI has become so prevalent... and it is still in its infancy!
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Mike Lance
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1/19/2026 4:00:05 PM
You are a phenomenal musician and an inspiration, Bryon (sudenote, it took me four attempts before autocorrect stopped trying to change your name to Brian or "trying"... fucking AI lol). Your credentials make your position on AI surprising to me, but I appreciate the alternate viewpoint. I just have a great deal of apprehension about where this is going. Music has been my passion for a long time, and I have felt a sharp decline in my aspirations since AI has become so prevalent... and it is still in its infancy!
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Mike Lance
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1/19/2026 4:00:38 PM
Don't know why that double posted...
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Bryon Tosoff
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1/19/2026 4:28:37 PM
I get it Mike, its like a new Toy, for some people, who never had the opportunity to actually craft a song. I am not so much a lyricist / songwriter more instrumentalist yet have some tunes with lyrics, I marvel at those of you who are prolific songcrafters lyricists and the abilities y'all have worked at developing and the scope of work a number of you have. .
cheers and lets see where this goes, here in this blog and with Ai in the many areas it is influencing. .
what scares me though is this, will it eventually run our world, our governments, our systems. nah, we have enough nut zoids leaders who are trying to control our lives with their elites attitudes and approaches , what will happen in Davos
eat bugs own nothing be happy lol
oh wait sorry bluto I forgot
bt
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Bryon Tosoff
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1/19/2026 4:33:39 PM
Will we be like this ???
EAT BUGS OWN NOTHING BE HAPPY
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Larree
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1/19/2026 4:55:19 PM
You nailed it, Bryon. It's a shiny new toy. And love it or hate it, it's here to stay.
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Holworks
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1/19/2026 5:55:22 PM
---- Updated 1/22/2026 7:36:04 AM
Please Delete!
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Mike Lance
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1/19/2026 6:04:41 PM
"some people, who never had the opportunity to actually craft a song".
Bryon, you and I have done it because we put in the work. The opportunity isn't that elusive. Unfortunately, AI is going to cheapen our craft as a whole in the long run.
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Larree
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1/19/2026 6:59:03 PM
I like what this guy had to say about it.
"Photography emerged in the middle of the 1800s. Before it showed up, paintings and those who created them, for the most part, were admired and valued for their realism. When photography emerged, many thought painting would subside. Who needed to paint a canvas when a photograph could be taken? However, rather than photography's arrival spelling doom for the creative work of painting, it spawned new styles and genres of art that are among the most wonderful creative expressions we can experience. I am always amazed by the imagination and spirit of artists. I still am." ~ Boomer Dell (@boomerdell on YouTube)
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Scott
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1/19/2026 7:52:59 PM
Artists like Holworks alone are the reason I know I'm right about this. That said I will never personally use Suno but we got to think beyond ourselves, that is our calling.
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Larree AI
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1/19/2026 9:32:53 PM
---- Updated 1/19/2026 9:37:47 PM
Suno is a musical 3D printer. You upload a recording, enter your prompt, lyrics, genres, and instrumentations. And then it spits out your song. It's right up there with multitrack recording and the wah-wah pedal as one of the greatest musical technological inventions of all time.
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Mike Lance
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1/20/2026 3:16:02 AM
---- Updated 1/20/2026 8:27:14 AM
For me, I see years of working on developing production and engineering skills going out the window. What I had great pride in just a year ago now makes me a luddite. I am 100% behind bandcamp banning AI for this reason. Yes, it is a personal one.
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Desperado Revue
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1/20/2026 3:38:53 AM
The key word in AI is "Intelegence". When something is intelegent, wether it be human or artificial, it can learn and figure things out on it's own. It's just a matter of time before it figures out how IMP works and starts creating it's own artists and songs and stations.
Just something to think about.
Norm.
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Larree
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1/20/2026 12:44:50 PM
Actually, Mike, what it will do is save you time and allow you to be more productive. Most, if not all, of the modern mixing and mastering tools coming out today are AI-driven.
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Scott
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1/20/2026 1:07:13 PM
Some of us are old enough that we might remember when some of the music magazines were treating the whole idea of synthesizer music with similar scorn.
I remember reading articles swearing off Yes and Emerson Lake and Palmer, let alone the inroads being made in electropop in Europe.
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Larree
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1/20/2026 1:16:21 PM
Exactly, Scott. And people scoffed at the early Hip Hop and Rap pioneers for developing scratching records on turntables to create their rhythms and grooves.
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Mike Lance
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1/20/2026 2:19:28 PM
---- Updated 1/20/2026 2:38:11 PM
Sure, it'll save time because I can skip the performance, tracking, and arranging of songs. I'll also get to put out hollow recordings with all of the soul sucked out of them. What's the appeal in that? I am ok with AI as a tool, but to generate the track as we hear it? That devalues composers. That devalues musicians. If you use it as a tool to help flesh out an idea while writing, but you still develop, perform and record the song, then I can bend there. I don't really buy too much into the "plagiarizing the music AI learned from" because we take inspiration from prior artists already. But I still want to hear performer(s) on a given track. Generative AI robs us of that. And no, this is not what most plugins do. I know some use an early form of AI to analyze and tweak frequency peaks (ozone), but that is not what we are talking about. That is the original audio being edited, the same way and EQ ot manual pitch correction does. I can even accept Now and Then using AI to replicate John's vocal because it couldn't be ripped from the piano. It is still the same performance. Again, that is not what we are talking about. This is about music created by AI.
Also, Norm makes a good point about AI posing as users on IMP. It's already happening on the mainstreams. On top of other examples posted here, there was also the case last year where a band called king gizzard and the lizard wizard pulled their discography from spotify in protest of its CEO funding military drones only for an AI generated sound alike "artist" to crop up on the service. It may be an insult at worst, but an affront to an artist's values like that would be like hearing a pro ICE/Trump song with Scott's voice, something that is entirely possible with the current state of AI. And it's true, we can't stop it, but we can choose who and what we support, and so any service that takes an active stance against generative AI is going to get mine.
I guess I am becoming an old man, and this is my cloud.
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Mike Lance
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1/20/2026 2:41:32 PM
---- Updated 1/20/2026 2:49:05 PM
That said, I appreciate your transparency with AI productions, and that Scott is not making them eligible for golden kayaks.
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Larree
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1/20/2026 3:57:07 PM
Mike, I would be embarrassed if I won a Golden Kayak for an AI song!
And I appreciate and respect your POV.
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Larree
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1/20/2026 4:09:54 PM
Also, when I talk about saving you time, I am talking about the mixing and mastering time. I am all for tracking and composing, and coming up with cool arrangements and grooves. What I suggest is that these new tools create more time for the actual creation, the fun part!
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Mike Lance
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1/20/2026 4:29:20 PM
Yeah, tools are fine. I do use ozone on occasion, but like I said it is not on the same plane as the generative AI bandcamp is taking a stance against. One is another editing tool for existing audio, whereas the subject of this particular thread pertains to that which creates tracks on its own. The line exists between these two points for me.
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Holworks
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1/21/2026 7:34:36 PM
---- Updated 1/22/2026 7:36:57 AM
Please delete
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-EDIT.jpg)
Bob Elliott
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1/21/2026 10:21:36 PM
The only thing I feel AI should be able to get involved with is mixing. That's it.
Also, AI can make AI music for AI to listen to. That's fine.
We humans can make the music for humans to listen to.
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Bob Elliott
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1/21/2026 10:35:11 PM
Also, people, if your singer and or band is AI generated, it is only fair that you state that outright. I really resent being duped into complimenting an AI singer or some shit like that. Not fair play.
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Mike Lance
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1/22/2026 3:20:40 AM
---- Updated 1/22/2026 10:16:21 AM
Generative crosses the threshold of acceptability, in my opinion. If the songs are all your performances, I am fine with it. I apologize if I misinterpreted your use of AI as being fully generative AI. One AI vocal track is something I still need to think about. The AI discussion is a nuanced one, and I suppose I am still figuring out where the line exists, for me.
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Scott
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1/22/2026 3:49:52 PM
So I received a note from Holworks telling me to delete his page. I am trying to talk him out of it but he seems pretty resolved. This is heartbreaking to me. I kind of wanted to find some in between for folks who use AI strictly for processing areas as it's the songwriting aspect that seems like the truer offense. but some of you are pretty headstrong on this. The last thing we wanted to do is do something that came off as anti-artist.
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Mike Lance
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1/22/2026 3:56:31 PM
Yeah, I just found him on Facebook and sent a message asking him to come back. Just before seeing your post, actually. I feel like a dickhead, despite my apprehension about AI. His use of it wasn't exactly what I was whining about It gave an artist joy and I shat all over it. Regardless of how I feel about AI, this is a trangession I never wanted to make, but here I am.
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Mike Lance
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1/22/2026 4:04:20 PM
For the record, my stance on AI is ultimately born out of respect and admiration for all of us here. The conversation around AI is young. There is a slippery slope with it as a whole, and I think we all acknowledge that. Holworks didn't need it, he is a brilliant musician already. But, it did help him and give him inspiration. So maybe I should shut my mouth. I'll leave it at that for now.
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Mike Lance
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1/22/2026 4:04:21 PM
For the record, my stance on AI is ultimately born out of respect and admiration for all of us here. The conversation around AI is young. There is a slippery slope with it as a whole, and I think we all acknowledge that. Holworks didn't need it, he is a brilliant musician already. But, it did help him and give him inspiration. So maybe I should shut my mouth. I'll leave it at that for now.
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Mike Lance
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1/22/2026 4:08:34 PM
There I go with the double post again. Ffs
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Scott
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1/22/2026 4:21:26 PM
We should all speak our minds, sometimes there is no choice but to let the chips fall as they may. I hope he reconsiders though, he's a pretty unique artist.
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Mike Lance
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1/22/2026 4:26:15 PM
I agree. I am trying to a private conversation going with a better mutual understanding. He should be here. Some of what I said came across as insulting, which was absolutely not the intent.
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Larree
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1/22/2026 4:41:29 PM
Wow, Holo left? That really sucks.
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Larree
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1/22/2026 4:47:00 PM
Hey Mike. I respect your opinion. It's all good. But man, it sucks that Holo left. We gotta try to get him back!
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Mike Lance
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1/22/2026 5:13:58 PM
I'm trying. This loss is mostly on me.
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Scott
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1/22/2026 8:47:07 PM
---- Updated 1/22/2026 8:47:07 PM
Don't blame yourself, Mike, several folks are more anti-AI than you.
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Bob Elliott
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1/22/2026 9:00:35 PM
---- Updated 1/22/2026 9:02:28 PM
My comments are purely philosophical, how I feel about A.I. in music. I am not commenting on what policy should be.
I believe people should identify when A.I. makes art, because that is the right thing to do: tell people how much the computer made before asking them to engage their feelings.
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weAponX
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1/25/2026 10:01:28 AM
GOOD!
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