SoundCloud has issued a statement (via The Verge) looking to clarify its stance on AI training after a furore erupted online last week over wording contained within the music platform’s T&Cs.
The policy update, which was apparently added in February 2024, states: “You explicitly agree that your 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”.
The change went largely unnoticed until Ed Newton-Rex, founder of the non-profit Fairly Trained, spotted it.
“SoundCloud seems to claim the right to train on people’s uploaded music in their terms. I think they have major questions to answer over this,” Ed Newton-Rex said in a post on X on Friday (May 9).
“I checked the wayback machine – it seems to have been added to their terms on 12th Feb 2024.”
Newton-Rex continued: “My question to SoundCloud is: does this include generative AI models? If so, I’ll remove my music and would encourage others to do the same.
“Trying to give them the benefit of the doubt before removing my music. Hoping they address this asap.”
SoundCloud has since issued statements to media outlets, asserting that “to date,” no user content has been used to train AI models, and that the rule change is meant to allow the use of user content for AI-driven platform features such as music recommendations and generating playlists.
In a statement to The Verge, Marni Greenberg, SVP and Head of Communications at SoundCloud, said: “SoundCloud has never used artist content to train AI models, nor do we develop AI tools or allow third parties to scrape or use SoundCloud content from our platform for AI training purposes. In fact, we implemented technical safeguards, including a ‘no AI’ tag on our site to explicitly prohibit unauthorized use.”
The Verge reports that it also asked SoundCloud “about letting users opt out of having their music used for generative AI development,” and was told the following by SoundCloud’s Greenberg :
“The TOS explicitly prohibits the use of licensed content, such as music from major labels, for training any AI models, including generative AI. For other types of content uploaded to SoundCloud, the TOS allows for the possibility of AI-related use.
The statement added: “Importantly, no such use has taken place to date, and SoundCloud will introduce robust internal permissioning controls to govern any potential future use. 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.”
Meanwhile, SoundCloud’s statement also suggested that it uses AI to support existing features. “Any future application of AI 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. 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 AI models.” SoundCloud acquired Musiio, a Singapore-based AI music curation company, in 2022.
SoundCloud’s terms state that the company will give “prominent notice under the circumstances” about significant updates. However, Newton-Rex said: “I’m a SoundCloud user and I can’t see any emails from them alerting me to this. I certainly wouldn’t have accepted.”
The now-revealed change to SoundCloud’s terms of use has prompted some artists, including the music duo The Flight, to pull their work from the platform.
In a post on Bluesky, the duo said: “ok then… deleted all our songs that we uploaded to Soundcloud and now closing account,” with a link to SoundCloud’s Terms of Use.
The updated terms have a carve-out for SoundCloud users covered under a separate agreement, for example, those whose music is uploaded via an agreement with a record label:
SoundCloud has spent recent years building a suite of AI-powered features. After acquiring Musiio in 2022, the company launched its AI-powered First Fans feature, an autoplay algorithm that serves up song suggestions to subscribers by assessing a newly-uploaded track and recommending it to around 100 users with relevant music preferences.
Then in 2024, SoundCloud partnered with AI companies including Soundful AI, which claims to help content creators, artists, producers, brands, and creative agencies to create original music “in a couple of seconds using Artificial Intelligence.”
It also partnered with Fadr, a platform that features various AI music tools like an AI-powered vocal remover, song splitter, key/tempo/chords detector, remix maker, mashup maker; and with Voice-Swap, which allows musicians to “transform vocal stems using generative AI to match the style of licensed artist voices”.
“Any future application of AI at SoundCloud will be designed to support human artists, enhancing the tools, capabilities, reach and opportunities available to them on our platform.”
Marni Greenberg, SoundCloud
In November last year, SoundCloud unveiled six AI-powered tools “to democratize music creation for all artists.”
These include services like Tuney for remixing, editing and generating tracks; Tuttii, an AI remixing platform for licensed music; AlBeatz to generate and customize beats “like a Pro”; TwoShot for creating custom samples; Starmony for singers and rappers; and ACE Studio for generating singing vocals from MIDI and lyrics with “studio-quality AI voices.”
SoundCloud also pledged that rightsholders would be properly compensated, joining the ‘Principles for Music Creation with AI’ initiative that supports “ethical standards” in AI music creation.
SoundCloud’s Greenberg reiterated that SoundCloud’s current AI-related initiatives are limited to improving user experience and content moderation.
Greenberg told The Verge: “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 AI technologies responsibly, especially as legal and commercial frameworks continue to evolve.”
Music Business Worldwide