You made a song with AI and it's good. Can you put it on Spotify, use it in a paid YouTube video, license it to a client or sell it? Usually yes, but the answer depends on three separate things: the licence of the tool you used, copyright law where you publish, and the rules of each platform. This guide explains all three for the United States and Europe, as of September 2026.
This article is general information, not legal advice. If a release or deal depends on it, talk to a lawyer who works in music or intellectual property.
Key takeaways
- Licence and copyright are different questions. A tool's licence says what you're allowed to do with the output; copyright decides whether anyone can stop others from copying it.
- In the US, prompts alone don't create copyright. The Copyright Office protects human contributions, such as lyrics you wrote or a melody you composed, not material generated purely from a prompt.
- In the EU, the AI Act's transparency rules have applied since 2 August 2026. AI tools must mark generated audio as machine-detectable, and realistic deepfakes must be disclosed.
- Spotify and YouTube allow AI music, but punish impersonation, spam and mass-produced uploads, and expect disclosure.
Licence vs copyright: two different questions
Most confusion about AI music comes from mixing up these two.
- The licence is a contract between you and the AI tool. It decides whether you may use the output commercially, whether you must credit the tool, whether downloads are limited and which uses are excluded. It applies even if nobody owns a copyright in the song.
- Copyright is a legal right that lets an owner stop others from copying, distributing or performing a work. It only exists where the law recognises an author.
So a song can be fully licensed for commercial use and still be only partly protected by copyright. You can sell it, but you may not be able to stop someone else from reusing the purely AI-generated parts.
United States: human authorship is required
What the Copyright Office says
On 29 January 2025, the US Copyright Office published Part 2 of its report on copyright and artificial intelligence, focused on copyrightability. Its conclusions, in plain terms:
- Works generated entirely by AI are not copyrightable. Human authorship remains a requirement.
- Prompts alone are not enough. In the Office's words, "given current generally available technology, prompts alone do not provide sufficient human control to make users of an AI system the authors of the output." That holds even for detailed prompts.
- Human contributions can be protected. Using AI doesn't disqualify a work. Material you create yourself, or a creative selection and arrangement of AI output, can be protected, assessed case by case.
The courts agree. In Thaler v. Perlmutter, the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed in March 2025 that a work must have a human author to be registered.
What that means for a song
| Part of the song | Likely protected? |
|---|---|
| Lyrics you wrote yourself | Yes |
| A melody you composed, for example by humming it | Yes |
| Your own recorded vocals or instruments | Yes |
| Your creative editing, arrangement and selection of AI parts | Possibly, case by case |
| Audio generated purely from your text prompt | No |
If you register a song that contains AI-generated material, the Copyright Office expects you to disclose the AI-generated parts and claim only the human-authored ones.
The practical lesson: the more of the song that is genuinely yours, the stronger your rights. Writing your own lyrics with lyrics to song, starting from your own melody with Hum to Song or recording your own vocals in the Recording Studio all add protectable human authorship.
European Union: originality and the AI Act
Copyright in the EU
EU copyright protects works that are the "author's own intellectual creation", a standard set by the Court of Justice of the European Union that turns on free and creative human choices. There's no EU-wide rule written specifically for AI output yet, but under that standard, audio produced purely by a machine from a short prompt is unlikely to qualify. As in the US, your own lyrics, melodies, performances and creative decisions are what count.
The AI Act's transparency rules
Article 50 of the EU AI Act sets transparency duties for AI-generated content, and they have applied since 2 August 2026:
- Providers of generative AI systems must mark their output, including audio, in a machine-readable way so it can be detected as AI-generated, for example with watermarks or metadata.
- Deployers who create deepfakes, meaning realistic content that falsely appears authentic, must disclose that it is AI-generated or manipulated.
- Artistic works get lighter treatment. When the content is part of an evidently artistic, creative, satirical or fictional work, the disclosure only has to be made in a way that doesn't spoil the work.
- Timing for existing tools. Under a provisional agreement reached in May 2026, generative AI systems already on the market before 2 August 2026 have until 2 December 2026 to meet the machine-readable marking requirement.
Breaking these obligations can lead to fines of up to €15 million or 3% of worldwide annual turnover. For most musicians, the marking duty falls on the AI tool, not on you. What you should do is keep the tool's watermarks and metadata intact, avoid realistic imitations of real people, and use the AI disclosure fields your distributor offers.
The United Kingdom
The UK, outside the EU, has an unusual rule. Under section 9(3) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, the author of a "computer-generated" work with no human author is the person who made the arrangements necessary to create it, and protection lasts 50 years. How that applies to modern generative AI hasn't been settled in court, and the UK government has consulted on changing copyright rules for AI, so check the current position before relying on it.
Streaming and video platforms
Spotify
Spotify allows AI-generated music. In September 2025 it announced three measures that still shape its approach:
- Impersonation: vocals that imitate a real artist are only allowed with that artist's authorisation. Unauthorised AI voice clones are removed.
- Spam filtering: Spotify stops recommending tracks and uploaders involved in mass uploads, duplicates, metadata manipulation and artificially short tracks.
- AI disclosures: Spotify supports an industry standard (DDEX) for crediting how AI was used in a track, and distributors are adding these fields to their upload forms.
Spotify has said disclosure doesn't count against responsible AI use; the filters target spam and deception.
YouTube
YouTube also allows AI music, with two rules to know:
- Disclosure: creators must disclose realistic altered or synthetic content in YouTube Studio. The label itself doesn't reduce monetisation or recommendations.
- Monetisation: in July 2025, YouTube renamed its "repetitious content" policy to "inauthentic content". Mass-produced, templated or easily replicated uploads can't be monetised, whether or not AI is involved. Original work with genuine creative input remains eligible.
Be careful with Content ID. Only claim rights you can prove, and check whether your distributor lets you register AI-assisted tracks at all, since many restrict it.
Distributors
DistroKid, CD Baby, TuneCore and other distributors each have their own AI policies. Typically you must hold the rights to everything you upload, you must not impersonate artists, and you may be asked to disclose AI use. Read your distributor's current terms before uploading.
Check the licence of the tool you used
Before releasing anything, find the answers to these questions in your tool's terms:
- Does my plan allow commercial use? Free tiers usually don't.
- Was I on that plan when I created the song? Some licences are tied to the plan at the time of creation.
- Are there download or export limits? Suno has capped downloads since September 2026; Udio doesn't allow exports at all.
- Are some uses excluded? ElevenLabs Music's self-serve plans, for example, exclude film, TV and games.
- Who owns the copyright the tool can grant? AIVA gives you the copyright only on its Pro plan.
- Must I credit the tool? Many free plans require attribution.
For SongUp: songs made on paid plans include commercial rights, so you can release and monetise them; free-plan songs are for non-commercial use with attribution. You can verify a song's licence at any time. See pricing for the plans, and our comparison of AI music generators for how other tools handle licensing.
A checklist before you release an AI song
- Make the song on a plan that includes commercial rights.
- Add your own creative work: write the lyrics, hum the melody, record a vocal or reshape the arrangement.
- Keep your prompts, lyric drafts, stems and project files as a record of your contribution.
- Don't imitate a real artist's voice, name or style in a way that could mislead listeners.
- Use your distributor's AI disclosure fields honestly.
- Label realistic synthetic content on YouTube.
- Release thoughtfully, not in bulk. Mass uploads trigger spam filters.
- If you register a copyright, claim only the human-authored parts.
- Keep a copy of your licence or plan confirmation.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sell AI-generated music?
Yes, if the licence of the tool you used allows commercial use. You can sell, stream and license the track. What you may not have is a copyright in the purely AI-generated parts, which limits your ability to stop others from copying them.
Is AI-generated music copyright-free?
Not automatically. The tool's licence may still restrict how the output can be used, parts of the song created by a human can be protected, and a track that closely imitates existing music can infringe someone else's copyright.
Do I have to label AI music in the EU?
The AI Act puts the main marking duty on the providers of AI tools, which must make generated audio machine-detectable. You must disclose deepfakes, meaning realistic content that falsely appears authentic, and for evidently artistic works that disclosure can be made in a way that doesn't spoil the work. Platform and distributor rules may ask for more.
Can I upload AI songs to Spotify?
Yes, through a distributor, as long as you hold the rights, don't impersonate other artists and don't spam the platform. Spotify supports AI disclosures in song credits.
Will YouTube demonetise videos with AI music?
Not for using AI alone. YouTube demonetises mass-produced, repetitive "inauthentic" content, and it requires disclosure of realistic synthetic content. Original videos with AI music made under a commercial licence remain eligible.
Sources
- US Copyright Office, Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, Part 2: Copyrightability (January 2025)
- EU AI Act transparency obligations and coverage from Music Business Worldwide
- Spotify, Strengthening AI protections for artists (September 2025)
- Suno download changes: RouteNote