SoundCloud is once again caught in a digital crossfire — and this time, it's about AI, music ownership, and some seriously shady fine print.
Back in February, SoundCloud quietly updated its Terms of Service with language that made a lot of artists do a double take. In short: unless you’ve signed a special deal, you're now agreeing that your music can be used to "inform, train, develop or serve as input to artificial intelligence or machine intelligence technologies or services." Sounds dystopian? You’re not alone in thinking that.
Most people didn’t even notice the change until it was highlighted by an external report — and when it blew up, the backlash came in hot. Artists, producers, and fans slammed the platform for slipping in a clause that basically opens the door to your music being served up to the AI gods. The outcry has been especially loud from independent musicians, many of whom use SoundCloud as their primary hub.
In response to the outrage, SoundCloud issued a classic corporate “calm down” statement. They claimed that the updated clause doesn't mean they're currently training AI models on your tracks — it’s just legal safety netting in case they want to explore AI features in the future. According to their SVP of Comms, the real intent was to cover internal uses like recommendation algorithms and fraud detection, not to build generative AI that pumps out AI-Drake clones.
To reassure (or at least attempt to), they pointed out features like a “no AI” tag that creators can apply to protect their content. They also pledged that any future generative AI ambitions would come with transparency and opt-out options for artists.
But let’s be real. In an era where the line between art and algorithm is blurrier than ever, saying “we’re not doing it now” doesn’t exactly inspire trust. Musicians are rightfully paranoid — with the AI gold rush in full swing, nobody wants their vocal stems or basslines quietly used to teach a machine how to replicate their vibe.
If SoundCloud truly wants to champion creators, they’ll need to do a lot more than drop legal jargon and backtrack under pressure. This industry already has a shaky history with artist rights. Add AI into the mix, and it’s a slippery slope to a world where robots remix your tracks better than you do — and make money doing it.
Degenerate Trader Take:
Honestly, I’m not even mad. If SoundCloud finds a way to mint AI tracks off our uploads and spin them into NFTs, I’m buying in. Just imagine: "AI Skrillex ft. DJ Khaled but make it deep house" — sounds like a win for the culture. As long as there’s a DAO vote involved and royalties hit my wallet before the next bull run, let’s cook.