Music Industry

Music’s Gatekeepers Open the Door for AI, But Humans Keep the Keys

Credit: Outlever

Key Points

  • ASCAP, BMI, and SOCAN will now register and pay royalties for partially AI-generated music, provided it involves a human-led creative process.
  • The new policy requires a human to be the driving creative force behind a composition, making works created entirely by AI ineligible for registration.
  • The organizations also stated that AI models trained on copyrighted music without permission constitutes theft, aligning with recent U.S. Copyright Office guidance.

North America’s three major performing rights organizations—ASCAP, BMI, and SOCAN—will now register and pay royalties for partially AI-generated music, but works created entirely by AI remain ineligible.

  • The human loophole: The new policy allows for works with "substantial AI-generated elements" as long as they are part of a "human-led creative process," according to details on BMI's website. This means a songwriter can use AI as a tool to generate ideas, but a human must still be the driving creative force behind the composition.
  • A tool, not a takeover: The organizations framed the move as an embrace of innovation, not a concession to machines. "Songwriters and composers have always experimented with innovative tools... and AI is no exception," said ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews. The goal is to support creators using new technology while reinforcing that the "future of music can embrace AI and still remain deeply human," as SOCAN CEO Jennifer Brown put it.

The policy mirrors 2024 guidance from the U.S. Copyright Office on human authorship. The PROs also stood firm on a key ethical line, stating that AI companies training models on copyrighted music without permission is "not fair use, but theft"—a position that backs ongoing lawsuits against generative AI platforms.