In the latest episode of lame things streaming platforms do, SoundCloud has updated its terms of service to force artists on the platform to have the music they upload be used to train AI. As per the update, those who upload to Soundcloud “explicitly agree that [their] Content may be used to inform, train, develop or serve as input to artificial intelligence or machine intelligence technologies or services as part of and for providing the services.” After some predictable and justified backlash from musicians, the platform then provided some follow-up statements to clarify how the company would deploy generative AI in the future. SoundCloud CEO Elijah Seton claims that users would be able to opt-in to the generative AI offered by the platform, and that it would function to help listeners discover music on the platform rather than it replicating music or artist likenesses. Whether you trust that statement is up to. Tech CEOs lie and change their minds, so who’s to say that the platform wouldn’t expand the use of generative AI down the road to include music generation and then use AI to recommend that music to you instead of music made entirely by human beings. I don’t trust Seton. I find that any proponent of generative intelligence in music and the creative spheres at large only does so out of a parasitic desire for wealth accumulation and their corresponding contempt for creative labour.
I don’t need generative AI for music recommendations, as I get those from other music fans and writers. I don’t find AI’s applications in music-related spaces to be of any benefit/utility to me as a musician either. There is nothing it can do from a compositional or production stand-point that I or another real person cannot do. I could ignore it being utilized by other people, except I don’t because I like to be a hater and AI-generated content looks and sounds like shit. Having uploaded music I made to SoundCloud, I find it disappointing that my music is to this platform nothing but fodder for the machine. But I’m not surprised at this. After all, any upload to a corporate streaming platform is a commodity for the platform’s owners to appropriate and exploit for revenue. I think what bothers me more is that I have sentimental attachments to the experiences I’ve had as a listener/user of SoundCloud in how the platform enabled me to access music and artists I may not have connected with otherwise. I discovered a lot of great music by following artists and publications I liked and then listening to what they uploaded or reposted as it appeared in my feed. But in recent years, I’ve found SoundCloud to become more like other streaming platforms in prioritizing algorithmic playlists and mixes at the expense of user-to-user interaction and recommendations. Furthermore, as other streaming services eclipsed SoundCloud’s popularity and cultural impact, I found there to be less active users on the platform, and thus the average discovery experience was less fruitful. The people whose tastes I trust for recommendations are elsewhere, and I prefer their company over the loneliness of interfacing with artificial intelligence.
Unless platforms are artist/worker/user-controlled, then the music/content that is shared via the platform and the free labour performed by others engaging with each other and their content will be appropriated by capitalist interests. SoundCloud’s previous financial struggles have been well-documented, and at this stage in the game perhaps it is no surprise that the company would look to AI as an area for growth and investment just as many other companies have.
I’ve been further reflecting on the pitfalls of relying on platforms to listen, discuss, and discover new and old music. Pretty much every platform I’ve ever used (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc.) has become increasingly shittier to use. Eventually, I reach a point where I delete my account because I don’t like using them anymore. I deleted my Apple Music account several years ago and I don’t regret it, so I don’t think I’ll miss SoundCloud if I kick it to the curb. My experience using RateYourMusic, reading blogs, buying CDs/cassettes, and rebuilding my mp3 library has been pretty much universally positive in large part because of the freedom from corporate interests dictating the playing field and limiting the creative and communal capacity of the user experience. While some might say that purchasing something from an artist’s merch store or record label website or downloading something off a blog is less convenient than streaming, I don’t think it’s that inconvenient. I also think convenience is a pathetic and asocial thing to prioritize in determining how one engages with and creates music and culture.
If there’s anything that’s clear in the history of recorded music consumption, nothing is permanent and the hey-days of formats and platforms have an expiry date. To me, this is where SoundCloud is no longer worth using after ten years of finding a lot of cool stuff on there. But cool stuff is elsewhere, and especially not where the AI is.