In what’s roughly reason No. 4,783 to love the platform, Bandcamp has officially banned the upload of AI-generated audio and music to its platform. Suck it, “the future.”
The announcement came Tuesday (January 13th) as Bandcamp Support took to reddit to share the news. Having recently released its 2025 round-up, Bandcamp said the rules came as it was noticeably struck by “the sheer quantity of human creativity and passion that artists express on Bandcamp every single day.” The platform added that these rules come as they seek to “protect and maintain” Bandcamp as a “vibrant community of real people making incredible music.”
And these rules for generative AI in music and audio seek to do just that. It all boils down to two key points:
- Any music and audio that is “generated wholly or in substantial part by AI” is outright banned from Bandcamp.
- The use of AI tools to “impersonate other artists or styles is strictly prohibited,” which is a continuation of existing policies intended to prohibit “impersonation and intellectual property infringement.”
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Bandcamp encourages anyone to use the platform’s reporting tools to tag songs/audio for content review. (It’s worth noting that Bandcamp does “reserve the right to remove any music on suspicion of being AI generated.”) It will also “communicate any updates as the rapidly changing generative AI space develops.”
At least judging from the responses on reddit, the move is being embraced by artists and users alike. One redditor wrote, “Bandcamp continues to be the best place to post your music.” Another wrote, “Absolutely thrilled to hear this. Y’all are my favorite way to support the artists I love, and I’m happy you’ll continue to be a place that offers a space unlike other music platforms.”
The same post also made a few important clarifications around other aspects of the generative AI “debate.” That includes AI being used to scrub and train from uploaded Bandcamp music, which the platform then described as being “strictly prohibited.”
While we should all be overjoyed about Bandcamp’s decision, it’s a different picture elsewhere on the World Wide Web. Yes, Spotify has rolled out recent artist protections against AI, the platform has faced scrutiny over the continued presence of fake tracks across its platform. Meanwhile, Apple Music has embraced the technology to a very specific degree, focusing on the use of AI to create playlists. And, of course, we have to mention Xania Monet, the AI-generated artist who appeared on the Billboard charts.
But Bandcamp’s new rules are nonetheless worthy of praise/celebration. It’s a smaller move, sure, but one that continues to be an investment in real musicians everywhere. And with the platform paying out a significant $19 million in 2025 alone, it’s clear that the platform plays a significant role in the ever-tenuous, ever-shifting indie music landscape.
Bandcamp Friday (where all funds go directly to artists and labels) returns on February 6th. In the meantime, a little praise music for all the fine folks at Bandcamp.
For more on music and AI, read Kiana Fitzgerald’s recent piece, “The Grifters, Dreamers, and Robots Behind AI-Generated Music.”
