Articles / Who owns a song made with AI?
Who owns a song made with AI?
Short version: what you wrote is yours, what the machine wrote is nobody's, and the paperwork cares about the difference. Here is where the law stands, in plain English, with the primary sources linked.
What the Copyright Office actually says
The US Copyright Office has addressed this twice: registration guidance in March 2023 and a full Copyrightability report in January 2025. The position is consistent. Copyright protects human authorship. Material generated purely by AI is not protectable, and with current tools, "prompts do not alone provide sufficient control." The 2023 guidance compares prompting to giving "instructions to a commissioned artist": you asked for it, but you did not author it.
Just as clearly, using AI as an assist does not poison a work. Human contributions that show through the output stay protected: lyrics you wrote, a melody you composed, your creative selection and arrangement of generated pieces, your edits on top. When you register, you must disclose the AI-generated portions and claim only the human ones.
What the courts say
Thaler v. Perlmutter tested the edge case of naming an AI system as the author. The D.C. Circuit held in March 2025 that authors must be human, and the Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal in March 2026. That question is settled.
A song, piece by piece
| Protectable? | Why | |
|---|---|---|
| Lyrics you wrote | Yes | Ordinary human authorship |
| Melody you wrote | Yes | Same, even if AI performs it |
| Your arrangement and edits | Yes, if creative enough | Selection and modification count |
| A chord progression alone | Rarely | Common building blocks |
| AI vocal performing your melody | The composition stays yours | The underlying work is what you wrote |
| Track generated from a prompt | No | Prompts are not authorship |
What the generators' terms say
Service terms decide what you may do; they cannot create copyright. Suno: on paid plans, Suno's terms assign you Suno's rights in your outputs, while stating plainly that Suno makes no warranty "that any copyright will vest" in them. On the free tier, Suno keeps ownership and you get personal, non-commercial use with attribution. Udio: since the Universal Music settlement, downloads are disabled; creations stream inside Udio's platform only. AIVA keeps the copyright on its lower tiers and sells full ownership on Pro. Read the terms of anything you generate; they differ this much everywhere.
The clean path
There is a simple way to be on the strong side of every line above: write the song. A melody and lyrics you composed are yours before any AI touches them, and an AI voice singing your written melody changes authorship as little as a hired singer would. That is the design bet behind Mozarella, our sketch pad where you compose the score and AI only performs it. Ours, so judge that sentence accordingly; the law above is real either way.
If you plan to release
- Keep dated drafts: lyrics, MIDI, project files, stems
- Note which parts were generated and which you wrote or edited
- Disclose AI-generated portions if you register with the USCO
- Check the generator's terms before commercial use
- When it truly matters, ask an actual lawyer
Copyright follows authorship. Machines cannot have it, prompts do not earn it, and writing the song still does.
Common questions
Can I copyright a song I generated with Suno?
The purely generated audio, no. The US Copyright Office holds that prompts alone are not authorship, no matter how many times you rerolled. Parts you wrote (your lyrics, a melody you fed in) and your creative selection or editing of outputs can be protected, and must be identified when you register.
Do I own a song if AI sings a melody I wrote?
The composition, yes. A melody and lyrics you wrote are your work in the ordinary way, and an AI performing them does not change who wrote them, any more than hiring a session singer would.
Is AI-generated music public domain then?
Effectively, purely AI-generated material has no US copyright owner, though a service's terms may still bind you contractually, and the question is unsettled in some other countries. Contract rights and copyright are different things.
Do I have to tell the Copyright Office about the AI parts?
Yes. Applicants have a duty to disclose AI-generated content in a work submitted for registration and to describe the human contributions.
More articles
- How to make AI sing a melody you wroteThe tools that sing your notes, and the ones that quietly replace them.
- The best online music makers in 2026Eight browser tools, compared by the job each one wins.
- Suno alternatives for people who want to write the songThe other list: alternatives where you stay the songwriter.
- Royalty-free music vs making your ownThe subscription math, the license traps, and when each side wins.
Mozarella is a song sketch pad in the browser, free to start. Open the app or read the FAQ.