Tim Corpus
Tim Corpus Tim Corpus
Menu Close
Listen

The SoundCloud AI Debacle about Training User Music Without Consent

On May 9th TechCrunch released an article highlighting how SoundCloud.com changed their terms of use for artists to allow the company to train AI that us musicians are uploading. Kyle Wiggers outlines in the article about how the new terms say some pretty harsh things about our music:

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,

SoundCloud Policy

Ed Newton-Rex posted a tweet on May 9th that showed those very words from Soundcloud’s policies.

Well that is obviously a sticky situation for us musicians and quite the claim that they will be using our music to train software that companies are actively using to replace us. This caused a big discussion on different forums I’m on (which thankfully alerted me to this!).

Is AI Training A Problem?

As a composer, I spend days, weeks, months—sometimes years—crafting a single piece of music. Every note reflects a decision, a risk, an emotion. It’s a thoughtful process that includes years of experiences…and lots of failures that have taught me what not to do. That’s what makes music powerful: it’s a deeply human act of creation. So when I learn that my music could be scraped, cataloged, and fed into artificial intelligence systems without my permission, I am feeling pissed off.

Composing music for the films from Ending the War on My Body
Composing music for the films from Ending the War on My Body

“AI is Killing Art!”

AI is not the enemy. In fact, I have used AI tools in my work. It’s incredibly helpful in proofreading long emails and assisting in online research. Google has become so unreliable with everything being sponsored ads, good content is not rising to the top. To me this all feels similar to how I was taught in junior high about how internet is just another resource in your research. Remember when teachers would say you still need to have at least 5 book resources in your bibliography?1

Well the funny thing about that is how inaccurate and outdated books can also be. And we’ve seen the proliferation of bad and false information flying around the internet. It blows my mind how many people go around believing everything they read on Facebook…but I digress.

So yes, I’ve used AI tools for my work, but I am not using them in the creation of my music. The thing is, there’s a difference between tools I/we choose to use, and tools that choose us—without asking.

Many generative AI systems are trained on vast amounts of data pulled from the internet, apparently including music by composers like me. These systems don’t always distinguish between public and privately licensed material. Nor do they ask permission and while some tech companies argue that this falls under “fair use,” the reality is much more complicated, especially when the AI’s output competes directly with the work of the artists it was trained on. How many of us have legal degrees and hours of time to parse through every privacy policy and software use agreement that we see? It’s a barrage of legal jargon often used to trick us into complacency.

I’m not against progress, but I am against these corporations trying to screw artists for a profit.

Other Tech Companies Are Taking Advantage of Musicians

AI is just a tool, but its these tools of executives who are really a problem.

Human garbage bag and Suno AI CEO Mikey Shulman said, and I quote:

“It’s not really enjoyable to make music now […] It takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of practice, you need to get really good at an instrument or really good at a piece of production software. I think the majority of people don’t enjoy the majority of the time they spend making music.”

Well Mikey Shulman, you can fuck right off.

Shulman sounds just like the tool at Spotify, Daniel Ek, who said that the “cost of creating content” is “close to zero”. Once more I say, you can fuck right off. 🖕

Starting back in 2024, Spotify changed its payout system and doesn’t pay any artist for any track that receives fewer than 1,000 streams. 2 Any tech bro who are lamenting that it’s hard work to make music and then also who say that the cost of creating music is “close to zero” are clearly wrong. I don’t think there’s any debate, they’re flat out wrong and they sound like folks who just couldn’t handle spending time learning a craft. Spotify’s payout model is predatory.

And all that being said, Spotify is a system that my music is on. Unfortunately it’s a necessary evil now if I want to achieve “legitimacy” in the eyes of folks who will “happen upon” my music or ever look me up. Your average user doesn’t know that the subscription that they are paying for is not paying artists. They think they are supporting artists when unfortunately they are not. Executives at these tech companies like Spotify and other AI platforms are leaching off of artists for money and in fact, they don’t pay people like me at all.

So yes, I see the irony of me complaining about how shitty this system is while also participating within it. If you have a better idea, you let me know.

So back to AI…when a tech company uses my music to train a model, they’re benefiting from my labor and creative voice—without credit, compensation, or consent. That’s not innovation. That’s exploitation.

Here’s what I believe must change for all of these interactions between AI and user content:

  • Artists must have the right to opt in, not opt out, of training datasets. It’s clearly an ethical issue if they’re sneaking in legal language under the cover of dark, hoping no one will notice.
  • There has to be transparency about what works are included in training material and why.
  • New business models should recognize and compensate the creators who shaped the data AI learns from. They’re making billions of dollars off of us. They can afford to share the wealth since they’re using us to get their next yacht.

𝐈 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐆𝐏𝐓 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐣𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞:
𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦, 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 35% 𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑓 𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑟ℎ𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑚𝑠. 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔, 𝑤𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑖𝑔𝑛 𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠—𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐ℎ 𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑠, 𝐺𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑢𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑘’𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑.
𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙:
• 𝑆𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
• 𝐸𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑠
• 𝑀𝑎𝑘𝑒 4/4 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛
𝑌𝑒𝑠, 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑔𝑜 𝑢𝑝—𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟: 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒, 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑜𝑚. 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑏𝑢𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑑𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑦. 𝐿𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦.
𝑊𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 𝑓𝑢𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒. 𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑢𝑛-𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛.

SoundCloud’s Response

So after folks saw Ed Newton-Rex’s tweet and the article on Tech Crunch, Soundcloud issued a direct response:

“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 February 2024 update to our terms of service was intended to clarify how content may interact with AI technologies within SoundCloud’s own platform. Use cases include personalized recommendations, content organization, fraud detection, and improvements to content identification with the help of AI technologies.”

So it sounds like SoundCloud may have just made a big public blnder. Whether you believe that or not, they’re claiming this isn’t such a big deal.

So Where Do We As Composer’s Go From Here?

I’ve been on SoundCloud for a very long time. I was an early adopter of the platform and have had my music on there since 2013. At this point I’ve decided it’s time to leave SoundCloud.

Everyone has a choice for what they want to do and I’m not saying you should or should not leave. In fact, this whole thing may be a misunderstanding or they’ll handle the process with AI better in the future. And if this is your main music platform, I understand not wanting to jump ship yet.

Even without a threat of AI training, this platform has not been very useful for me over the last several years and honestly, there are better systems out there. It’s also so full of bots, I get spammed with fake messages all too often. So I’ve deleted my music from the platform. I decided to keep my account so that it’s at least held by me and my company.

You can find my music on a lot of different platforms including: YouTube Music, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Spotify (yes…and I know it sucks), Bandcamp, Tidal, my own website, and ReelCrafter.

ReelCrafter

My music has been on ReelCrafter for a bit now and I really enjoy the platform. I believe it’s the best way to share a demo to pitch on the project. The team at ReelCrafter are incredible and they really understand what artists need. In fact, they’re headed up by a composer that I have admired for years and years, Sam Hulick.

Sam Hulick and I hanging out with composer friends in LA.

Sam is a genius composer who has worked on a lot of video games including Mass Effect. I used to walk around listening on my Zune to the soundtrack that he and Jack Wall composed. It’s one of my all-time favorite game soundtracks and his work has inspired me so much. It’s been exciting us to become friends over the last few years in the founding of the Chicago Chapter of the Society of Composers & Lyricists.

I feel like I’m in good hands having my music on their platform. It’s also helped me win jobs during the proposal process.

I know that what draws a lot of musicians to Soundcloud is the fact that it is “free”, but there are other free options too.

If you want to look pro, ReelCrafter is the way to go and it’s used by a ton of people in the industry. It has become the industry standard way of sharing a pitch or demo for a project. It’s also good for actors, voice-over actors, performers, and others.

ReelCrafter Example

This is an example of an embedded playback link from ReelCrafter.

Free Music Sharing Platform Options

ReelCrafter

The pro plan is what I use, but there is a free option for those who don’t have the capacity to have a higher account. You have a max on the number of reels and links you can share, but you can always just switch out what music you’re putting on the platform as you need it.

Bandcamp

Bandcamp is still a great resource. I support Bandcamp Friday‘s all the time and my albums are all for sale on this platform. I find that my fans really like to support me here and it’s a great way to connect. You can put music on the system as private links, there is also a pro version too.

What platforms do you use to share your music?

End of An Era

So ya, in the end here, after over a decade, I’m switching off Soundcloud and building up (even more) my use of ReelCrafter and my own website. It’s also going to help me to be a bit more organized about where all of my music is. It’s hard to keep track of all these different platforms, accounts, subscriptions, and everything in between.

I hope that companies are seeing the backlash from users about how they’re just throwing AI into everything without a conversation with their audience. I believe there is a way forward through all of this, but just like how the internet changed things about music in the early 2000s, it’s going to take some time and users are going to need to smarten up about how they digest, support, and engage with content.

I’m curious to hear what you think about the use of AI and also how you think we should best share our music.

Reach out and let’s chat about music!

    1. This is a bibliography! I’m personally a Chicago Style person myself. I know those who are allllll about their APA or MLA style, but to me Chicago Style has always been clearest. I also used it in all the previous research and writing I’ve done about Filipino composer Lucio San Pedro, my writing on Ravel, Debussy, and others. ↩︎
    2. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/nov/22/spotify-announces-royalty-changes ↩︎

    ”Corpus’s writing is consistently inventive: It’s never quite clear whether the soloists are teasing one another or casually trying to one-up each other, and you’ll never hear a xylophone sound more mournful than it does at the middle of the movement. I’s always a high endorsement, to both performer and composer, when people start hooting in the middle of a classical music piece like they’re at a stadium show.”

    Hannah Edgar Chicago Tribune

    Tim Corpus is a composer with a genuine lyric impulse. He writes music that is at the same time challenging and appealing - which should be the ideal of any composer. He has a wonderful ear for sound and for shape. This is a composer with a real and important voice.

    Henry Fogel Retired Dean of the Chicago College of Performing Arts and CEO/President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

    ...`{`Three Pieces for Five Timpani`}` is an outstanding addition to the literature for timpani and great for advanced recital programs.

    George Frock Professor Emeritus, The University of Texas

    Tim Corpus is a wonderfully skilled composer who has important things to say with his music. His debut album, Breath, is extremely impressive. Beautiful and exciting music to be sure!

    Larry Alan Smith Composer

    Tim Corpus' music is complex, original and steeped in tradition. His Three Pieces for Five Timpani is clearly an extension of the composers, such as Elliott Carter, that came before him. The pieces are challenging but fulfilling to learn and perform. Possibly the most important thing about Tim's timpani writing is that audiences will enjoy listening to his compositions. He is taking solo timpani writing to the next level.

    Ed Harrison Timpanist of the Lyric Opera of Chicago

    The melodic gestures in Tim Corpus' masterful piece for strings, ``Breath``, are paced so that a listener’s respiration pattern aligns itself instinctively with the slow and even pulse of the piece. Breath creates a powerful performer/listener symbiosis, a remarkable accomplishment on the part of the composer.

    Steven Gryc Composer

    Tim Corpus’s music is beautifully lyrical, nicely voiced and technically well-realized. In person, he is a pleasure to work with. We very much enjoyed recording his first two string quartets and hope to see more from him in the future.

    Jen Leckie Violinist, Grant Street String Quartet

    I recently had the pleasure of conducting the premiere of First Flight. It is artfully written, fresh, unique, and best of all – a beautiful piece of music! Tim is a major talent with big things in store for his future. It clearly deserves a permanent place in the repertoire of any serious wind ensemble. I can't wait to program it again!

    Stephen Squires Conductor, Chicago College of Performing Arts Wind Ensemble

    I have worked with Tim Corpus as a performer, composer and teacher. He brings passion and energy to his craft. He is a young lion who is making his mark on the Chicago music scene.

    Kevin Miller Retired Band Director, Schaumburg High School

    I've had the pleasure of knowing Tim for years now, and I learned very quickly that his passion and talent as a performer and composer are unquestioned. Everything he does is handled with a rare combination of intensity and care, and his works display such attributes. His lyricism in particular, along with his rich, beautiful harmonies and intricate polyphony set him apart from many of his colleagues. In a world littered with simple, non-intellectual music, Tim is breaking through and creating a new, exciting, accessible, and, most importantly, intelligent style of music that is imperative to the future of our art form.

    Matt Bronstein Axiom Brass Quintet

    Breath is very professionally produced, and the overall impression is of a lyrical and rhapsodic voice. I think Breath is a great starter, very ample and serene, even ecstatic. The second quartet is lively and engaging throughout.

    Dr. Robert Carl Composer

    © 2026 Tim Corpus.