South Korea Allows AI Songs to Enter Copyright, As Long as Humans Remain Involved

Illustration of digital music production. South Korea will allow AI-assisted songs to be registered for copyright if humans remain involved in the creative process. Photo illustration: Pexels.

South Korea has begun to open up space for songs with artificial intelligence or AI to be registered for copyright. However, there are important requirements. Humans must still have a major role in the creative process.

Anadolu Agency, quoted Thursday, August 6, reported that the policy was conveyed by local media on Wednesday. Songs that are entirely made by AI from simple text commands still cannot be registered for copyright.

According to the Korea Music Copyright Association or KOMCA, creators can register AI-assisted songs if they co-write the lyrics, compose the song, or arrange the work.

This policy reverses KOMCA's previous stance. The association had held off on registering AI-assisted works because it was concerned that copyright disputes would arise and there were no clear standards.

"The purpose of this revision is to officially recognize AI-assisted creative practices while protecting the rights of human creators," KOMCA said in a statement, quoted by the Korea Herald.

This new rule makes the use of AI in music not automatically rejected. However, creators must be open from the start.

Applicants are required to mention the AI tool used, explain how the tool was used in the creative process, and state that the information provided is correct.

If further examination is still needed, KOMCA can request additional evidence. This evidence can be in the form of a digital audio workstation project file, editing history, music score, prompt notes, to AI creation log.

A digital audio workstation is software for recording, composing, editing, and producing music. Prompts are text commands that users give to AI.

The document is used to assess how much human involvement is involved in the creation of a song.

Producers can still use AI to search for ideas, create melodies, or arrange arrangements. However, they must be able to prove that the main creative decisions are still made by humans.

KOMCA menegaskan karya yang kemudian terbukti sepenuhnya dibuat AI atau didaftarkan dengan informasi palsu bisa dikenai sanksi.

The sanctions include suspension of royalty payments, return of royalties received illegally, and termination of the rights management agreement.

KOMCA also considers fines up to three times the royalties received illegally if intentional violations or gross negligence are found.

The association said the policy was the first written standard in South Korea for AI-assisted music registration. This rule also includes such works in the existing copyright system.