Can you copyright AI music?

This page explains public guidance in plain language. It is not legal advice.

What the U.S. Copyright Office says

On 29 January 2025 the U.S. Copyright Office published Part 2 of its report on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, which covers whether AI outputs can be copyrighted. Its central point is that copyright protection in the United States requires human authorship.

• Purely AI-generated music, or songs without enough human control over the expressive elements, are not protected.
• Prompts alone are generally not enough to make you the author of the output, because the same prompt can produce different results.
• Using AI as a tool does not block protection: human-written lyrics, a human melody, or human selection and arrangement of material can be protected.
• Each case is assessed individually; there is no fixed percentage of human input.

What that means for your songs

1. If you write the lyrics yourself, your lyrics can be protected even if the music is generated.
2. If you only type a description and use the result as-is, you likely cannot register copyright in the song.
3. If you edit, rearrange, re-record or combine AI material with your own work, the human parts may be protectable.

Copyright is not the same as permission to use

Whether a song can be copyrighted is a separate question from whether you may use it. On TaloMusic's paid plans you may use the songs you make in videos, ads, podcasts and releases under our licence terms, even where copyright registration would not be available.

Releasing AI songs on streaming platforms

Distributors and streaming services set their own rules for AI music. Deezer, for example, detects and tags fully AI-generated tracks and excludes them from algorithmic recommendations. Check your distributor's current policy before releasing.

Examples: who owns what?

• You type "an upbeat pop song about summer" and release the result unchanged. The lyrics and music were generated, so there is likely no human authorship to register. You may still use the song under the platform's licence.
• You write all the lyrics and the AI composes and sings the music. Your lyrics are your own work and can be protected; the generated music likely cannot.
• You generate a track, split it into stems, write a new topline, re-record vocals and rearrange the parts in a DAW. Your selection, arrangement and new material may be protectable; the untouched AI parts are not.

Registering a song that includes AI material

When you register a work in the U.S. that contains AI-generated material, the Copyright Office expects you to disclose the AI-generated parts and claim only the human-authored parts. In practice that means describing what you wrote or arranged yourself (for example "lyrics" or "selection and arrangement") and excluding the AI-generated music.

Outside the United States

Other countries are working through the same questions, and the answers are not identical. Most systems still tie copyright to human creativity, but details differ. If you plan to rely on copyright protection in a specific market, get local legal advice.

Practical checklist

1. Keep your own drafts, lyric files and project files as a record of your human contribution.
2. Write or substantially edit the lyrics yourself if protection matters to you.
3. Read your AI tool's licence for commercial use, and your distributor's AI policy before releasing.
4. Don't imitate real artists' voices or names.