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AI generated music barred from Bandcamp

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Re: AI generated music barred from Bandcamp

#321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I certainly would. I might even start hating the song, if that discovery left me feeling tricked.

That is such a bizarre opinion to have. Do you not enjoy art because it gives you joy?

Of course I do. But what gives me joy with art is that it's a communication from one person to another. It's not about pretty sounds (or pictures, or whatever the medium is). If that communication isn't there, then the art has no real value to me regardless of how pretty it is.

If I think I'm talking with a person and it turns out that I'm talking with a machine, I've been duped and will likely be angry about it.

Another way to think about it is that when it comes to art, "the ends justify the means" doesn't really work because the whole point is more the means than the ends.

Re: AI generated music barred from Bandcamp

#322
post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All of the "discoverability" algorithms are specifically and fundamentally about sifting through the millions to find the few that are preferred. They are fundamentally about finding the content that will generate the most revenue. That changes the dynamics quite a bit.

You're not wrong, but the need to please the user is still paramount, otherwise they'll just do something else. This is why TikTok is eating everyone's lunch.

I don't agree with this and to answer the question you originally asked me, I do think users are consuming things they don't actually enjoy. The goal isn't to please the user, the goal is to not bore the user. If you talk to people I'm sure you'll find a lot of the music they listened to isn't "enjoyed" so much as it is inoffensive background noise.

Re: AI generated music barred from Bandcamp

#323
post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe if you go down the rabbit hole of "mood playlists" and spotify created playlists, then you'll get a lot of tracks that they don't need to pay royalties for and that could probably include AI generated music. If you are explictitly looking for music by specific artists, then you get their music obviously.

> then you'll get a lot of tracks that they don't need to pay royalties for I love this conspiracy theory. Which track doesn't Spotify pay royalties for? Considering that it licenses 100% of its music from external distributors.

Spotify hires musicians to churn out content that fits certain criteria. see https://harpers.org/archive/2025/01/the-ghosts-in-the-machin...

Re: AI generated music barred from Bandcamp

#324
I've been micro-sampling AI "covers" or "re-imaginations in a new genre" of certain pieces of music.

For making house/4x4 type music, it's actually pretty fun. Once you chop something and repitch it enough, no algorithm can pick up on what song it is you are sampling if the AI track is way off from the original piece.

No way would I actually try to monetize it, though.

Re: AI generated music barred from Bandcamp

#325
post #48

Can’t imagine this policy lasts more than a year or two given the rate that AI tools for music are improving. Once the tech can reliably create high quality dry stems of instruments, backing tracks etc. and automate professional-sounding production work (which most musicians do not currently have access to) everyone is going to be using it even if they won’t admit it publicly.

Why would quality matter, You make a image from Google AI and its instantly marked as Synth ID. It can be easily detected and thrown out if you want to keep the site AI free.

We would need AI free places now that AI is so easy and cheap to produce.

Re: AI generated music barred from Bandcamp

#326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The making of art is a personal experience, and the beholding of art is another type of personal experience. If we suggest that the two can be separated such that we can behold art without knowledge of the production of it, well I would consider that wrong. There is a reason each piece in a museum is given a plaque telling its medium and brief background. This is because the meaning of a piece is derived from its con…

We don't have to agree, but the biggest problem I find with this take you're now bringing is that it leads to an infinite regress, you can forever expand your knowledge about the origin of something. Then, not to mention, that often we construct from evidence which is already an interpretation with data loss. The Mona Lisa example actually supports both our positions in my opinion: someone can have a profound experie…

But then do we not agree, for if your experience of the music has changed upon learning the meaning of the songs, then it was true knowledge of the meaning of the piece which in the end determined your appreciation for it. And that our experience is not a fixed thing at one moment in time, but can re-occur and is in flux and subject to change in its quality based on knowledge gained. So from this you cannot return to the naivety of a child unless you reject from your mind the notion that knowledge determines quality and that the meaning supplied from its makers influences our experience of it.

Who is more correct, the child or the adult? If you suggest the child, then what do you say to the adult who objects on the grounds of the meaning of the sounds uttered? The adult would say that though the sounds are pleasant to the ear, they are not good to the mind. Thus, rather than affirming the child's vision, they would reject the pleasant sounds with poor meaning in favor of higher quality ones which are as equal in their harmonic value as with the greater quality in their meaning.

As for the infinite regress, that only proves the value of knowledge all the greater, for if we can expand our knowledge on the origins of something continually, so too can our appreciate of the thing grow in proportion. This only leads to a richer and deeper appreciation for life. In this way I can reread or rewatch a show in time and see more and know more than in my first experience, and so grows my appreciation for the details that I missed the first time. And this may only occur if the subject at hand is of good quality in the first place, for else when we descend further into the details and meaning we would be dissapointed at its lack. But that which is rich in meaning lacks none and may reveal itself new with every experience. This is why knowledge of the good is required, and why AI and lackluster artists may only produce pleasant sounds.

Re: AI generated music barred from Bandcamp

#327
post #323
post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> then you'll get a lot of tracks that they don't need to pay royalties for I love this conspiracy theory. Which track doesn't Spotify pay royalties for? Considering that it licenses 100% of its music from external distributors.

Spotify hires musicians to churn out content that fits certain criteria. see https://harpers.org/archive/2025/01/the-ghosts-in-the-machin...

Spotify doesn't hire any artists because if it did, major labels would immediately pull their contracts.

No one actually understands what's written in this article, including the authors themselves.

Also note how you didn't provide a single track that Spotify allegedly pays no royalties for.

Re: AI generated music barred from Bandcamp

#328
post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> then you'll get a lot of tracks that they don't need to pay royalties for I love this conspiracy theory. Which track doesn't Spotify pay royalties for? Considering that it licenses 100% of its music from external distributors.

There are artists that Spotify has different deals with. Spotify promotes their music in their playlists, but the artists get a much smaller cut of the profits in exchange. Win-win for everybody. This only happens in genres where most listeners don't care about the artists they're listening to, think "chillout", "focus" or "easy listening." That kind of music is a commodity, Taylor Swift (or Metallica or Mozzart or w…

> There are artists that Spotify has different deals with.

Spotify doesn't have deals with artists because Spotify doesn't have direct contract with artists. Only with distributors.

> My hypothesis is that those genres would otherwise lose Spotify the most money,

How would they "lose Spotify money", and how is this different from top artists on Spotify?

Re: AI generated music barred from Bandcamp

#329
post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as a musician, the internet has made it that there already is a shit ton of competition. AI will make it worse sure, but it was already a 'problem' and never going to be solved. The thing is, you aren't entitled to distribution. Most musicians who make it these days work really hard at doing live shows, or growing a following on tiktok. once they have an audience - who cares about competition?

> The thing is, you aren't entitled to distribution. That applies to people spamming AI slop too. People are right to complain about spammers. Platforms are right to try to stop spam, even though everyone knows that spam is a problem that is never going be solved. > Most musicians who make it these days work really hard at doing live shows, or growing a following on tiktok. Live shows, by their nature, have almost ze…

What you call slop others may enjoy. Calling stuff AI slop doesn't mean it isn't someone's art.

Re: AI generated music barred from Bandcamp

#330
post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> then you'll get a lot of tracks that they don't need to pay royalties for I love this conspiracy theory. Which track doesn't Spotify pay royalties for? Considering that it licenses 100% of its music from external distributors.

Internally, they refer to it as “perfect fit content” (pfc). It used to just be stuff like white noise and rain sounds, but it has expanded to essentially be a modern Muzak replacement. For situations when people don really want “music” and just need “contextually appropriate aesthetically pleasing sound”

That makes all the sense in the world to me. I'd call that an entirely legitimate use for AI generated music.
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