Prof Snyder's Music Biz News

Bandcamp is be promoted as the first major music company to ban AI music.

While Humans rejoice, there's more here than meets the eye.

I do a deep-dive into Bandcamp's recent history, Songtradr - its owner, questions about the new policy, and what the CEO actually thinks about AI and music (you'll be surprised)!

This is for anyone who records music, and is looking for a tax write-off.

The HITS (Help Independent Tracks Succeed) Act was passed last summer (2025), but it hasn't been publicized like No Tax on Tips. (Side note...the tips you get at gigs don't count!). This Act allows you to write-off any recording costs, up to $150,000, you may have had in 2025, but only 2025.

So if you need a tax write-off, start digging for those receipts!

Be sure your recording friends are aware and share this podcast...the TAXMAN is coming!

Music historians will note that 2025 was the year of another major change in music production and composition.

The official beginning of musical 'slop.' When Artificial Intelligence began to elbow its way into music (and every other thing), and replaced songwriters playing guitars, with music designers writing prompts.

2026 will probably be the year when the shift in the Matrix will settle, and the new music world order is established.

So much happened that looking back at the totality of it all, can be overwhelming.

So here is a quick list of 2025 firsts. (Most referred to in my previous podcasts...check out the playlist for 'deep dives.')

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime (Isolated Vocals) • Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime (Isolat...

Merriam-Webster made the word 'slop' the 2025 Word of the Year.

It refers to AI music as being garbage, but "Every Media Revolution Breeds Rubbish and Art." EDM, Rap, Hillbilly, Rock, Bubblegum, all have been considered to be trash...the slop of the day. 97% of people can't differentiate what is and isn't AI generated. One writer wrote that while 90% of AI music is garbage, but 10% is 'tolerable.' Hasn't that always been the case with popular music? Before AI, only 5% of released music broke even, another 5% were hits that made up for the 90% that didn't break even.

All of the distributors like YouTube, ASCAP, Spotify, and even the Copyright Office use the honor system asking content creators to voluntarily admit using AI.

I.E. Don't ask don't tell!

Forget the US government helping. It tried in 2023, but was revoked this year and is now 'guided' by the very tech companies it sought to regulate.

Since AI generated content can't be copyrighted, which can affect royalties, can we trust musicians to be honest when submitting? An industry described by Hunter S. Thompson as "...a cruel and shallow money trench"?

Is SLOP the new genre?

Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot....

A snapshot, using data, comparing the worlds of traditional musicians and AI designers. The number of people using AI music tools is immense, far outnumbering traditional musicians by millions. 3 types of Music Creators:

• Traditional Musicians
• AI Music Designers
• Hybrids

There is a lot of tension between trad musicians and AI designers. But, though probably a lot of traditional musicians like myself will disagree, I've come to realize that those using AI to create music for the first time in their lives, are not the enemy. And that AI is already very entrenched in trad music making, regardless of what trad musicians say.

We should continue the fight against the very small minority of AI users who are corrupt and are gaming the system, and corporate exploitation, but for the most part, we should welcome the humans behind the AI music, and draw them into understanding the music they create, and maybe show them how to play guitar (which trends show gen-zers are doing). Sure they'll continue to make bad music, I.E slop, but a lot of people think the music of the 80s was also slop, to which I contributed with my synths and mullet haircut ;) Slop has always been around.

Links to surveys and other sources at https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot....

The frequency of music companies + AI announcements is increasing exponentially, daily.

It's overwhelming and almost impossible to keep up.

The Big Question: How will musicians be paid?!

These are my guesses, hypotheticals, and conjectures based on what I've read. We're starting to get hints how the pennies might trickle down. The labels say don't worry kid, we'll take care of you.

The only certainty being labels are excited and beginning to "envision how they’ll get their beaks wet" "But as for the dry, chapped beaks of powerless copyright stakeholders—small-time artists, writers, and creators—concerned that their work will simply be made redundant or irrelevant in this weird new content universe, it’s still not at all clear how those beaks benefit from any of this." Mike Pearl

Sources Sources https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot....

Here are 10 misconceptions I've read in comments across social media.

These are my observations and opinions.

You can jump to the part you'd be interested in.

00:00 Intro

00:30 There are established laws, passed by Congress, that regulates ai.

01:29 The government of the US cares about artists and musicians and is working on laws regulating AI and copyrights.

03:34 What is stated in the copyright office reports is permanent and binding.

04:19 The law states that only human created parts of a song can be copyrighted…any parts generated by AI isn’t protected.

05:07 Copyright law states you can’t copyright a song if you use AI for any of the parts.

05:36 Music created by only using prompts can’t be copyrighted

07:13 There are specific guidelines about AI and fair use. 07:40 Composers will be paid if AI is trained on their music.

09:31 Music companies are only looking out for their artists when it comes to AI music.

10:23 The courts conclusion about the generative AI case of Thaler v. Perlmutter, is fixed law.

11:15 Congress needs to get off its ass!

Sources:https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/11/10-misconceptions.html

AI Creep: "AI has now slipped into everyday life and we seem less guarded about its use"

Performance Rights Organizations, ASCAP, BMI, and SECAN have updated their policies to accept “compositions partially generated.”

They will now register and pay royalties for partially AI-generated music, provided it involves a human-led creative process. Composers are trusted to voluntarily reveal how much AI was used during composing the music.

Everyday, we wake up to learn AI has silently become a part of the eco-system of the music business. As you read this, behind the curtain, corporations are deciding not if they will incorporate AI, but rather how they will. AI is in the musical bloodstream, and there is no going back.

Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot....

Udio wants to be the music industry's "AI good guy".

UMG and Udio settled their lawsuit, and the Udio subscribers are pissed off! "Udio will now be a 'walled garden' in which users can only stream their AI creations on the platform, with no ability to export and distribute their works. In response, Udio opened a 48 hour window, ending today 11/4/25, for subscribers to download their music.

Otherwise, all of those AI created songs might never be heard (is that a bad thing?), humans who downloaded Udio tracks to then build on will probably jump to Suno, and it will be interesting to see what the new UMG/Udio service will be.

Meanwhile, SONY, UMG, and WMG, use the same lawyers, while Suno and Udio are also represented by the same lawyers...and subscribers are looking into suing Udio. It's good to be a lawyer!

Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/11/udio-joins-umg-and-deserts-subscribers.html

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/CrUlIezY7ug

The music biz has always blurred the lines between the real and the fake, like KISS dubbing in the audience on their live album.

Will Smith has gotten some brutal press for his use of AI to 'enhance' his audience in a video of him performing. The controversy is exposing some much deeper realizations about the use of AI.

"AI fatigue is hitting hard."

"AI-generated content isn’t just underperforming; it’s triggering active resentment."

"Public backlash against AI-generated content is growing."

"Gen Z is turning away from AI-generated content, loudly."

Is it just showbiz, or are there real cultural cracks in the use of AI? (and yes there are cats at the end of the podcast)

Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/10/its-easy-to-build-your-audience-with-ai.html