Copyright, Distribution, and Release

The Legal Reality of AI Music

🔄 Quick Recall: In the previous lesson, you wrote lyrics using AI as a collaborative partner and produced vocal tracks with AI generation tools. Now you need to understand the rules before you release that music into the world — copyright law, licensing, and distribution policies that determine what you can and can’t do commercially.

This lesson isn’t optional. The legal landscape for AI music is evolving rapidly, with over 70 active copyright lawsuits, major label settlements, and new policies from streaming platforms. Understanding the rules protects your work and your income.

Copyright Basics for AI Music

The fundamental rule: Copyright requires human authorship. The US Copyright Office has consistently held that works created without substantial human creative involvement cannot receive copyright protection.

What this means in practice:

The spectrum: Pure AI output on one end (not copyrightable) and pure human creation on the other (fully copyrightable). Most AI-assisted music falls somewhere in between. The more human creative input, the stronger your copyright claim.

✅ Quick Check: Why can’t you copyright a song where you only typed the prompt and AI generated everything? Because copyright law requires human authorship — a person making creative decisions about expression. Typing a prompt is giving instructions, not creating the artistic expression itself. It’s similar to telling a painter “paint me a sunset” — the painter, not you, created the artwork. With AI, nobody created the artwork in a legally recognizable way.

Commercial Licenses vs. Copyright

When you pay for a Suno or Udio subscription, you receive a commercial license — not copyright ownership.

What a commercial license gives you:

• Right to upload to streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple Music)
• Right to use in content (YouTube, TikTok, podcasts)
• Right to earn royalties from streams and downloads
• Right to use commercially (advertising, games, film — check terms)

What a commercial license doesn’t give you:

• Copyright ownership
• Ability to register with ASCAP, BMI, or other PROs for publishing royalties
• Ability to sue others for copying your AI-generated music
• Exclusive rights to the output (the AI platform may have retained rights)

The AIVA exception: AIVA’s paid plans grant actual copyright ownership to the user. This makes AIVA unique among major AI music generators and particularly valuable for commercial production work.

The Settlements That Changed Everything

In 2025, two landmark settlements reshaped the AI music landscape:

Warner Music Group + Suno: Warner settled its copyright lawsuit and entered a licensing agreement. Suno is launching licensed models trained on authorized music, with older unauthorized models being phased out.

Universal Music Group + Udio: UMG settled and created licensing agreements, with plans for new subscription services featuring AI trained on licensed catalogs.

What this means for you: AI music platforms are becoming legally safer to use. Licensed models mean the music you generate is less likely to face copyright challenges. But the transition is ongoing — check the terms of service for the specific tool and plan you’re using.

Distribution: Getting Your Music on Streaming Platforms

You can’t upload directly to Spotify or Apple Music. You need a distributor.

Major distributors and their AI policies:

Distribution checklist before release:

1. Confirm your rights: Do you have a commercial license from the AI platform you used?
2. Verify human input: Can you demonstrate substantial human creative involvement?
3. No impersonation: Your music doesn’t sound like or claim to be a specific artist
4. Original metadata: Song title, artist name, and album art are your own original work
5. Choose your distributor: Based on their AI policy and your level of AI usage

✅ Quick Check: Why might TuneCore reject your release while DistroKid accepts it? Because TuneCore’s policy is stricter on AI content. TuneCore rejects 100% AI-generated music and requires that AI was used as a tool for human creativity. DistroKid is more permissive — they accept AI-assisted music as long as you own the rights. Know your distributor’s policy before uploading.

Monetization Basics

Once distributed, you can earn money from:

Streaming royalties: Per-stream payments from Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, etc. Rates vary (roughly $0.003-0.005 per stream on Spotify).

Download sales: Some listeners still buy tracks on platforms like iTunes and Bandcamp.

Sync licensing: Licensing your music for use in videos, films, games, and advertisements.

Content ID (YouTube): Register your music with YouTube’s Content ID system to earn revenue when others use it in their videos. Note: Some distributors restrict Content ID for AI-generated content.

Important: Keep records of your creative process. Screenshots of your DAW sessions, drafts of your lyrics, notes on your arrangement decisions. If anyone questions the human authorship of your work, this documentation supports your claim.

Release Strategy

Help me plan my first AI-assisted music release:

Track details:
- Genre: [style]
- AI tools used: [list tools and what each was used for]
- Human creative input: [what I personally created/arranged/wrote]

Help me:
1. Assess my copyright position — based on my AI/human input split, how strong is my claim?
2. Recommend the best distributor for my situation
3. Create a release timeline (mastering → distribution → promotion)
4. Suggest metadata: genre tags, description, keywords for discoverability
5. Outline a basic promotion plan for my first release
6. Identify any legal risks I should address before release

Key Takeaways

• Copyright requires human authorship — pure AI output isn’t copyrightable, but human-authored elements within AI-assisted tracks are
• Suno and Udio grant commercial licenses (usage rights), not copyright ownership; AIVA grants actual copyright
• Warner-Suno and UMG-Udio settlements are creating licensed AI models, making the landscape legally safer
• Choose your distributor based on their AI policy — DistroKid is more permissive, TuneCore is stricter
• Keep documentation of your creative process to support human authorship claims
• The more human creative input you add to AI-generated foundations, the stronger your legal and artistic position

Up Next: In the final lesson, you’ll build your complete end-to-end music production workflow — from initial idea through release — combining everything you’ve learned into a repeatable system.