The Authenticity Policy
MbHRecords
The music is real. Real instruments, real voices, real songs written by the people performing them. That is the one thing MbH was built on and the one thing we will never move on.
Everything in this policy comes down to a single test. If it replaces a human creative decision, it doesn’t belong on an MbH record. A person playing a synth is making the decision. A machine generating the part is replacing it. Hold every question against that line and the answer is usually obvious.
Who This Applies To
There’s a difference between the Collective and an MbH release. Artists in the Collective make and release their own work however they want, wherever they want. We don’t police what you do under your own name. But the moment something carries the MbH name, this policy is absolute. The logo is a promise to whoever’s listening that a human made this. We don’t break that promise.
The Music
- No AI generating music, melodies, instrumentation, or vocals.
- No voice synthesis.
- No mixing or mastering tools that make creative decisions on their own.
- No AI artwork or visuals tied to a release.
- A human can play any instrument, program any synth, and use any tool they actually control.
The line isn’t analog versus digital. It’s human versus replacement.
Here’s what that means in practice. A compressor, an EQ, a tuner you’re driving by hand, all fine. Any plugin or synth where you’re the one making the calls, fine. A tool that writes the part, picks the notes, or generates the sound for you, not fine. If the tool made the choice instead of you, it crossed the line.
The Songs
Every song released under MbH is written by the artist performing it, or written together with full and honest credit to everyone involved. We don’t hand someone a song they had no part in and let them call it theirs. If you didn’t write it, you don’t take sole credit for it.
Sampling is human work and always has been. If you build on someone else’s recording, it gets cleared and it gets credited. We don’t pass off other people’s work as our own and we don’t cut corners on the people we borrowed from.
Covers are welcome, properly licensed, and clearly named as someone else’s song. We give credit. Always.
The Performance
Pitch correction is fine as an effect a human chooses on purpose. It is not fine as a fix for a take that wasn’t there. If the take isn’t there, you do another take. The difference is whether a human made the choice or a tool covered for one.
Live shows reflect the recorded work honestly. No backing tracks or pre-recorded parts passed off as live. If a part is in the song and nobody on stage is playing it, you say so. The audience deserves to know what they’re watching.
DJ sets at MbH shows are performed live on real hardware. Pressing play is not a performance. Reading a room, mixing in real time, and controlling the energy of the music with your hands is.
Visuals
No AI footage, deepfakes, or synthetic visuals in official MbH videos or promo. The same standard that applies to the music applies to everything that goes out under our name. If a human didn’t make it, it doesn’t represent us.
The Business
We use AI to run the company. Code, research, documents, scheduling, admin. A human edits and approves all of it. None of that is the art and none of it is what you’re listening to, holding, or coming to see.
We will never use AI to write in an artist’s voice. Bios, liner notes, personal statements. The artist writes them, or a human writes them alongside the artist. Never a machine speaking for a person.
When It Breaks
Anything that goes out under the MbH name runs through quality control first, specifically to catch this. If a violation makes it onto an MbH release, the release comes down. One is enough. The logo is a promise and we don't leave a broken one up.
Why It Matters
The industry spent decades pulling the human out of music. Committee-written songs sung by people who had no say in them. Voices tuned until they belonged to someone else. Now AI artists, to skip the human altogether. It’s all the same move.
We’re not anti-technology. We’re pro-human. Every creative decision on an MbH record was made by a person with a body, a brain, and something to say. That’s the standard. That’s the whole thing.
Our Core Values
01
Authenticity
Every artist, every note, every decision. Real or nothing.
02
Artist First
We don’t win unless the artist wins. That’s not a slogan. That’s the deal.
03
Transparency
Open books. Fair contracts. You keep what's yours, we give our platform.
04
Human Over Algorithm
Every curation, every recommendation, every signing is made by a person with eyes, ears, and a brain.
05
Community
We build with people, not above them. Artists, fans, collaborators. If you’re here, you’re part of it.
