Bandcamp is where you want to be if you want to support artists. they get money when you buy things from them on there
You already can’t tell if a song is generated with AI.This is never going to work, watch them backpedaling in a year.
But there are clues. And those clues are part of the reason some people are opposed to it. Like 30 EPs released in a year.
I think there’s a place for AI music. There are plenty of instances where you need some vaguely musical audio filler. Hold music, shopping background, etc. Well bandcamp ain’t that place.
But there are clues.
Clues are not evidence.
Like 30 EPs released in a year.
They should limit the number of EP you can release in a year then.
I’m sorry your AI music “career” isn’t taking off like you thought it would.
You are listening to AI music already without knowing.
Good luck to them.
If anyone needs to bypass this ban, for $3 I will record 1 minute of yodelling so your content isn’t pure AI.
how do i pay you
uh, i may want to collaborate. can i offer $20 for a 3-5 minute blues yodel (song pending, probably about a shower running out of hot water or a wife being too proud to borrow deodorant, album title A Complaint Letter to the Sea)
I hope more platforms ban this useless spam.
Oh, I need to get back into Bandcamp
The next Bandcamp Friday is Feb 6 (Bandcamp foregoes their cut).
So 99% AI is OK if the last 1% was made by non-AI, a real dog bark or so.
The actual wording is “Music and audio that is generated wholly or in substantial part by AI is not permitted on Bandcamp.”
So no, 99% AI is also not allowed
Helps if you read past the headline
Nothing can be good, amiright
It’s a PR stunt if 99% AI is fine.
you should reread
I’m glad they did this. Confident in my choice to remain with Bandcamp.
deleted by creator
What’s a good way to discover artists on Bandcamp? Most artists I listen to at the moment are with the usual big labels and don’t sell on Bandcamp.
deleted by creator
Thanks, I didn’t know about music map. I have used Everynoise, which is similar, but doesn’t get updates anymore since Spotify closed that particular API access.
N-th the suggestion to creep on people who buy the same stuff as you. There’s a lil grid of their pfps, I click on a cool one and check out the stuff they listen to that I haven’t
Not answering your question exactly, but finding community (non-commercial) radio shows in your local area that you like is a good way to find new music. Find a few shows/presenters that play music/genres you like and they should play local artists that you might not have heard. They’ll also mention upcoming gigs etc.
c. Find a few shows/presenters that play music/genres you like and they should play local artists that you might not have heard.
I love option c. I’ve been going to the music shop and buying stickers, then looking up the bands whose stickers i’ve bought and going to their shows. most of the bands are, uh, well the bands i was in at that age sucked and they’re a little better than we were. but like $5 concerts, you can’t be mad even if the music sucks
That’s definitely one of the more unique methods of finding new music haha
Try searching by tags within genres that you like.
That doesn’t really work in my experience because artists seem to be incapable of tagging their work correctly.
- read Bandcamp’s writeups. Sometimes they do a deep dive into a genre, city, or band. https://daily.bandcamp.com/
- if you find something you like, scroll down and there’s other users who bought it. Peek into their collections
- if you scroll down further on an album, there will be more recommendations
- you can search by genre or tag, too
This is the best answer! Thank you for sharing your methods. I was going to reply about the daily editorial, but yours is more complete.
I would also like to add that I type the name of things I like and often find them on bandcamp. Including big artists.
Peter Gabriel, Evanescence, Run the Jewels, Flight of Conchords, Ghost…
What I don’t find there, I get from a thrift store (easy to find famous artists there) or quobuz.
The real rare gems are still hard to find, and require more ambitious exploring.
Most of the best, I get from suggestions from other people in irc or on the fediverse.
I’ll often find something interesting and look through the collections of other people who also have the album. Another way is to just start in the genre sections and browse.
Here are a few varied suggestions, no specific genre since I don’t know your tastes:
https://boyharsher.bandcamp.com/album/country-girl-uncut https://idlesband.bandcamp.com/album/tangk https://williethrasher.bandcamp.com/album/spirit-child
Good.
And sure… People will obviously try to break this rule, and I’m sure some will succeed. But that’s true of any rule. Rules don’t prevent bad behavior, only deter it.
Just watch, we’re two weeks away from some tech bro trying to start a Clankercamp website. The best part is that no one except other tech bros will care.
I really hope they do. I hope the build their own websites to host all of there slop and self-segregate. Please do it. It would be so easy to add a couple of slop domains to my pihole.
Suno.com is basically this. It even allows users to comment on the songs.
Unfortunately they would never stick to segregated websites like that. AI pushers needs to expose it to everyone and slop it on general platforms, otherwise they will lose out on that sweet investment money.
They do already, and most of the comments on the noise are “please share promp”.
Keep it up bandcamp. We are all waiting for when you enshittify like everyone else but you’ve held it at bay so far.
They gave us a scare over the years, being sold around to companies that are famous for enshittifying platforms.
Epic sold the company when people unionized, and the next did a trick to not recognized the union and “hire” half of the staff (contrary to fire half of them).
The platform is not what has been 5 years ago, but it is still my favourite place to get music around.
Would be cool if bandcamp had a streaming subscription.
Thats not their model, and that model also sucks ass for supporting other humans.
I am one of those weirdos who likes to own my media. There are few of us geezers left, but luckily enough that bandcamp exists.
Just because the Spotify model sucks doesn’t mean it has to.
I don’t see a reason why 85% of a monthly subscription couldn’t given directly to the artists you actually listen to, and any albums your purchase is on the platform (and you get to keep the drm-free files).
Honestly it kinda sounds like an awesome service.
Edit: I’m one of those geezers too, who prefers to own my music. I just think there’s room for both.
The Spotify model sucks despite throwing money at it for years, so my guess is they surely can give you some reasons why 85% of your monthly subscription can’t be given to the artists you listen to.
Publicly traded companies are always going to turn to shit, the “Spotify model” is just appeasing shareholders with infinite growth.
I agree. Probably not profitable to the company though. Gotta keep those server costs covered…
It’d be nice if people could make a living off art but capitalism is against that at every turn especially now. Art shouldn’t even be related to money in some people’s opinions .
So it stop being profitable?
Good on them on recognizing that slop is undesirable and shouldn’t be encouraged, but that a full ban also kills the nuance of creative freedom and creates painful situations where a single AI tool anywhere in the process (even indirectly) gets hard work rejected, which could hamper aspiring creatives in their ability to (start to) get their work out there and (start to) make a living when they are not what (most) people have issue with.
I liked the part where you read the article and recognized it specifically mentioned the opposite of every potential negative you stated
Not quite sure what you’re trying to say. The article literally says:
Bandcamp’s policy targets the latter end of that spectrum while leaving room for human artists who incorporate AI tools into a larger creative process.
Which is what I’m applauding and affirming, so I’m not sure what you’re saying I’m saying is opposite to what the article says.
I incorrectly interpreted your comment originally, I apologize for the hostility.
Fuck yeah.
Ya love ta see it!
