Copyrights are complex, and vary by region! To ensure you have the most up-to-date information, we suggest reaching your local copyright office before creating.
However, the good news is that tracks made on Tunedly are on a work made for hire and you own those tracks and the copyright.
Done. No other questions when it comes to your ideas, your lyrics, or anything our musicians create for you – you own the masters, you own the copyright!
But what about AI generated tracks? #
It is important to know there is a difference between ownership and copyrights. It is often said that if you come up with something on your own, you automatically assume the rights to it. In music, there are several other factors that help determine rights beyond ownership.
If you make music with an AI music generator, and you are just using the service’s free plan (what most people do!) – guess what! – THEY are the owner of the songs! All of it! You don’t own anything at all! You are only allowed to use these songs for non-commerical purposes. You can’t distribute them, you can’t put them on your TikToks or YouTube videos – you do not own it!
What happens if I subscribe to the AI generator as a ‘pro member’ #
If you make songs while subscribed to an external AI generation company’s pro plan, you do own the songs. Further, you are usually granted a commercial use license to monetize those songs from that AI generation service.
However, in both cases, the material is not eligible for copyright protection.
In the US, copyright laws protect material created by a human. Music made 100% with AI does not qualify for copyright protection because a human did not write the lyrics or the music. Writing the prompt does not constitute the creation of the song.
If you wrote the lyrics for your song(s), you own those lyrics. Most copyright offices will allow you to register those lyrics on their own, and you may be able to use those lyrics to register your whole song as well (but be careful, this is still a potential issue). But as for the music or lyrics if AI wrote them, you cannot copyright them at all!
This puts you in a tough situation if you want to do anything with your song other than play it for your mom!
Most distributors exclude songs that are not eligible for copyright protection as well.
What do I do if I want to use an AI generated track and retain copyright? #
Your best option is to utilize Tunedly’s services! Even if you have a song you’re 99% happy with from AI, send it to us as part of your project creation process. We’ll recreate the track with humans. We’ll get a real vocalist to perform the lyrics. We’ll rewrite the lyrics (using AI only as inspiration) so that you can copyright it. We’ll get real producers and musicians to play all the instruments and stems.
Solved!
Bottom line – don’t release or expect to own or copyright any AI generated music without re-producing it with Tunedly.
