According to stereogum.com, last week, people began noticing an update in the most recent version of SoundCloud’s terms of service, which is a provision giving the platform permission to use uploaded content to “inform, train, develop or serve as input” to AI. It is unclear whether or not that includes generative AI and it appears the company has not done a very good job of notifying users of the change, with the Wayback Machine indicating this provision was added back in February 2024.
But now, folks are noticing and are understandably upset, given the extensive backlash against AI in music. SoundCloud has now issued a new statement in response to the issue: “SoundCloud has never used artist content to train Al models, nor do we develop Al tools or allow third parties to scrape or use SoundCloud content from our platform for Al training purposes. In fact, we implemented technical safeguards, including a ‘no Aľ tag on our site to explicitly prohibit unauthorized use.”
Soundcloud adds: “The February 2024 update to our terms of service was intended to clarify how content may interact with Al technologies within SoundCloud’s own platform. Use cases include personalized recommendations, content organization, fraud detection, and improvements to content identification with the help of Al technologies. Any future application of Al at SoundCloud will be designed to support human artists, enhancing the tools, capabilities, reach, and opportunities available to them on our platform. Examples include improving music recommendations, generating playlists, organizing content, and detecting fraudulent activity.”
The company continues with: “These efforts are aligned with existing licensing agreements and ethical standards. Tools like Musiio are strictly used to power artist discovery and content organization, not to train generative Al models. We understand the concerns raised and remain committed to open dialogue. Artists will continue to have control over their work, and we’ll keep our community informed every step of the way as we explore innovation and apply Al technologies responsibly, especially as legal and commercial frameworks continue to evolve.”
However, SoundCloud’s statement does not rule out using content for generative AI in the future, with the company adding in statement to The Verge: “Should we ever consider using user content to train generative AI models, we would introduce clear opt-out mechanisms in advance — at a minimum — and remain committed to transparency with our creator community.” Currently, the company uses AI for common features like personalized recommendations and fraud detection.”
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