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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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OP
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With the flood of AI-generated music online lately, I’ve been thinking more about authenticity and how I present my own work. In response, I’ve been trying to play more of my own parts when I can, while still using some Band-in-a-Box RealTracks and MIDI tracks.
I can strum guitar and play keys, but honestly, in many cases the Band-in-a-Box parts just sound better and serve the song better. Looking ahead to 2026, I’m considering leaning more heavily on BIAB for certain tracks rather than forcing myself to play everything.
I’m pretty active on SoundCloud and usually include a short write-up describing how each song was made. I understand that BIAB tracks don’t require attribution on streaming platforms, so this isn’t a licensing question.
What I’m really curious about is practical experience: have you personally released Band-in-a-Box–based songs to major streaming services (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) under your own artist name? If so, how did you feel about it afterward, and did you handle presentation or credits any differently than your other releases?
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A number of us do.
I give credit to those persons who contribute to my recordings. BIAB is not a person.
BIAB 2025 Audiophile Mac
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Digital Performer11, LogicPro, Finale27/Dorico/Encore/SmartScorePro64/Notion6 /Overture5
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DC Ron
BiaB Audiophile
Presonus Studio One
ASUS I9-12900K DAW, 32 GB RAM
Presonus Faderport 16
Too many guitars (is that a thing?)
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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OP
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Thanks for the reply. That makes sense, and I agree BIAB isn’t a person. I wasn’t thinking in terms of formal attribution.
What originally got me thinking about this was seeing a lot of AI-generated music online where the line between “played” and “generated” isn’t always obvious. That made me a bit more self conscious as to how I personally want to present my own work, even when using tools like BIAB.
Sounds like for you it’s simply a non-issue, which is helpful perspective.
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FWIW, I use the attribution "AI: none" when I want to make the AI content crystal clear.
DC Ron
BiaB Audiophile
Presonus Studio One
ASUS I9-12900K DAW, 32 GB RAM
Presonus Faderport 16
Too many guitars (is that a thing?)
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FWIW, PGMusic has stated previously that giving a nod to BiaB is OK, but they have also asked (on behalf of the artists) that individual players of the generated tracks are not given credit.
Hope that makes sense.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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OP
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Thanks. that totally makes sense. Just to add some context: I’m active on SoundCloud, where people can comment directly, and I’ve been seeing a lot of AI-generated songs posted without mentioning that they’re AI. The comments often make it clear listeners think the person is actually playing the instruments, and that assumption doesn’t always get corrected.
There was a recent example where someone responded to a comment on an obviously AI-generated guitar part by saying his fingers were sore from playing it. To me, that starts to border on outright deception and that’s exactly the kind of misunderstanding I’m trying to avoid.
So when I use BIAB, it’s less about attribution and more about transparency. I don’t want people assuming I’m playing parts I didn’t. My real strengths are songwriting and singing, with me actually strumming my own somewhat imperfect guitar or playing MIDI parts when it fits the song.
One nice thing about SoundCloud is that there’s room to explain how the sausage was made if you want to. I usually like to break down the tracks. For example, here’s how I credited one of my songs, “Not a Rambling Man”:
Joe Stroffolino — music, lyrics, vocals, organ, and guitar
Bass — PG Music RealTrack
Double bass synth & Wurly — Logic Pro Session Players
Drums — many thanks to Ken K2 and the Three for playing the drums and for the great feedback while I was mixing
That approach feels like a good balance for me: being upfront about the tools while still keeping the focus on the songwriting.
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OP
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Absolutely. This past year I released a handful via Distrokid, basically some songs that were only on SoundCloud. All contain PG Music Real Tracks.
Tucson? Hey there, neighbor.
Scott
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Hi Scott, I just listened to "Back to Texas" and that song sounds great (I am assuming the song is mostly BIAB tracks). And really great vocals and lyrics.
And nice to chat with a fellow Arizonan (I have been living in Marana since 2020).
Joe
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Nice to meet you, Joe, and thanks:) Yeah, it's all Real Tracks except for some acoustic guitar parts I played. Showcase OP - Back to Texas
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It seems to me the standards for giving credit, for performance or writing, in the music business have always been about the business side of things and not about accurately crediting contributors.
McCartney and Lennon wrote lots of songs individually but they had a contract to share credit on all songs, even the ones they wrote completely on their own.
Session musicians like The Wrecking Crew generally received no writing credit or even performance credit even though they wrote iconic riffs and converted skeletal songs into popular hits.
Apparently it used to be common (and likely still is) for Big Stars to require a writing credit on songs actually written entirely by unknown songwriters.
So, I never, ever mention BIAB or EZKeys or Native Instruments or any other tool I've used when I publish or share a song I've written! I think to do so detracts from the finished song and invites negative criticism (especially with all the AI hate that exists currently.)
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FWIW, PGMusic has stated previously that giving a nod to BiaB is OK, but they have also asked (on behalf of the artists) that individual players of the generated tracks are not given credit.
Hope that makes sense. IIRC their statement on individual artists is stronger than that, it's more "do not credit individual artists". I suspect there are several reasons for that, the simplest being that they didn't actually play the particular performance. But consider also the possibility of a copyright infringement by a BiaB user who credits a professional musician on the song and I think one could open a rather large can of worms.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
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BIAB2025 Audiophile, a bunch of other software.
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I think that’s a fair point, and I agree with you about the history. Credits in the music business have almost always been about the business side of things and not about accurately documenting who played what. The Lennon and McCartney example and session players like the Wrecking Crew are good reminders of that.
Where I think I’m coming from is a little different, and it has less to do with formal credits and more to do with context. On a platform like SoundCloud, where musicians actively comment on each other’s songs, if someone says “wow, that piano sounds amazing,” I am happy to just say thank you. But if someone says “wow, you’re an amazing piano player” and I actually used something like EZ Keys, I personally feel a little odd not clarifying that.
With all the discussion around AI lately, I think I am just trying to be clear, at least in conversation, about what is a human performance versus what is a tool. It is not because I think it is required, but because it feels more honest to me in that setting.
On platforms like Spotify or Apple Music, where there really is not a comment culture anyway, I agree that it is basically a non issue.
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That makes sense, and I think you’re probably right about that. If the BIAB part isn’t a literal performance by one specific player, then crediting an individual musician would be inaccurate anyway. I can also see how that could open up a whole can of worms legally if people misinterpret what that credit means.
I’m not really talking about formal credits though. I’m just thinking about casual conversation on places like SoundCloud. If someone assumes I personally played a part that I didn’t, I sometimes feel a little weird letting that stand, so I might just say I used a tool. Not naming any individual players.
I think we’re basically on the same page.
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FWIW, PGMusic has stated previously that giving a nod to BiaB is OK, but they have also asked (on behalf of the artists) that individual players of the generated tracks are not given credit.
Hope that makes sense. Saving that for my Grammy acceptance speech—but only if a BIAB assisted track wins.
BIAB 2025 Audiophile Mac
24Core/60CoreGPU M2 MacStudioUltra/8TB/192GB Sequoia, M1 MBAir, 2012 MBP
Digital Performer11, LogicPro, Finale27/Dorico/Encore/SmartScorePro64/Notion6 /Overture5
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We’ve released six albums and many singles to the platforms ALL of which feature BiaB tracks along with our guitar playing music friend and partner. Zero AI. We’ve been fortunate to have been placed on hundreds of Spotify play lists and on Spotify editorial and algorithmic lists over the past 4 years. We recently released our first album of covers and one of the songs received over 28,000 plays in a month. Granted that’s not huge relative to many thousands, perhaps millions, of artists but the average Spotify artist averages 40-50 listeners a month. So we are just happy to know that more than family and friends like our efforts. PG Music recently gave us permission to post the aforementioned song and EP which we will soon do. They made it all possible. A company that changed our music world. And we give them a shoutout on our SC uploads and on our video credits.
J&B
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos are here on our website.
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