2026 is the year of a dividing line between human and AI music.
Streaming services have had to contend with AI-made music for a couple of years now. Some are letting it proliferate with caveats and some are actively trying to stop AI music on their platforms.
In recent months, we’ve seen the popularity and visibility of AI acts like The Velvet Sundown, fake R&B singer Xania Monet and an AI metal band Broken Avenue get significant streams, while a tier of AI music designed to ape or dupe existing acts like King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have recently appeared.
Bandcamp have come out this week and stated very clearly their policy on AI made music.
- 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.
See the blog post on Bandcamp’s stance.
How other music services have addressed AI
As market leader but also morally beleaguered, Spotify’s statement in September acknowledged the unsettling pace of generative AI music, but also said “AI is unlocking incredible new ways for artists to create music and for listeners to discover it,” before saying it was addressing the AI music slop problem by insisting on industry standard for AI disclosures in music credits, banning obvious spam slop, deepfakes and more.
But, Spotify has also made a deal with the major labels and major indies to create “artist-first AI music products“, bringing mashups back with AI for example.
At the mainstream source – major labels Sony, Universal and Warner have made deals – with generative AI services like Udio and Suno – allowing their catalogue artists to be trained by AI.
Deezer disclosed that 18% of daily uploads of the music on its platform was AI generated slop and are aiming to tag this to the user publicly.
Apple Music is apparently planning AI-powered playlists and bans AI-generated content that lacks clear authorship or disclosure while Qobuz has mostly just prioritised the human-made music in its editorial and platform without making a public stance on it.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
