I’m wondering if the remove_cap() method is what you need. Try adding this to functions.php. Feel free to remove it after you’ve visited the front end of your site, it just needs to be run once.
add_action( 'init', function() {
$role = get_role( 'subscriber' );
$role->remove_cap( 'upload_files' );
} );
You can do the same with the author and editor roles should you wish.
Tried it — user can still create an album. And cans still upload. 🙁
user can still create an album
You didn’t mention albums! Are you using a plugin?
yikes… yes — buddymedia..
Just disallowing file uploads probably won’t work because BuddyMedia is likely to have extra functionality that needs to be disabled (such as albums)
Try asking this same question on their support forum:
https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/buddymedia