This is an area where law and guidance are still developing. The summary below reflects public guidance as of our last review and is not legal advice. If ownership matters for a release or a deal, speak to a lawyer in your country.
The United States position
The US Copyright Office has said that copyright protects human authorship. In its 2025 report on copyrightability and AI, it concluded that material generated entirely by AI is not protected, and that prompts alone generally do not give a person enough control over the output to count as authorship. Courts have also upheld the human-authorship requirement, including the 2025 appeals decision in Thaler v. Perlmutter.
Human contributions can still be protected. If you write lyrics, compose a melody, arrange or substantially edit generated material, or select and combine pieces in a creative way, those human elements may qualify. Applicants are expected to disclose AI-generated material when registering.
Other countries
Rules differ. The United Kingdom has a provision for "computer-generated works" that names the person who made the arrangements as author, and the government has consulted on whether to change it. Many other countries require human authorship without a specific AI rule. Expect further changes.
What this means in practice
- Using a track in your content depends on the licence from the service, not on whether the track itself can be copyrighted. Our licensing page sets out what each plan allows.
- Stopping others from copying a purely generated track may be difficult if no copyright exists in it.
- Adding your own work such as a vocal, lyrics, new melody or heavy editing strengthens your position over the finished piece.
- Distribution platforms have their own policies on AI music; check them before releasing.
Keep records
Save your prompts, generation dates, project files and notes about what you changed. If questions about authorship ever come up, a record of your human contribution is the most useful evidence you can have.
Written by the Sonvela editorial team with AI drafting assistance, then checked against the sources linked in the text. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will correct it.