AI can generate lyrics, melodies, and even complete songs and tracks in seconds. But when it comes time to copyright that song, you might hit a wall.
by AiSongFix Staff | July, 28, 2025.
With the rise of AI music tools, the most common question is: "Can I copyright an AI song?"
The answer isn't black and white—but there are clear guidelines, strategies, and red flags to help you stay on the safe side of the law.
The U.S. Copyright Office doesn't recognize works created solely by AI—and if you haven't made enough human contributions, you might not be able to claim ownership at all.
If you can't claim ownership, you can't make money (legally) off of your song.
The U.S. Copyright Office's views on AI songwriting authorship were issued in a report titled "Report on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence." The report consists of three parts, released on July 31, 2024; January 29, 2025; and May 9, 2025.
The Copyright Office's stance is clear:
That means if your song is 90% AI output and you only changed a few words, you're likely not the author in the legal sense.
For more on the subject, read our article: "Can You Copyright AI-Generated Songs?"
⚠️ Bottom line: To ensure copyright eligibility with AI, you will need to rewrite your AI song to meet the specifications of AI music copyright law. A big part of that is humanizing AI lyrics and melody.
To be eligible for copyright, you need to do more than tweak a line or fix grammar. Here are the types of rewrites that count:
✅ Rewriting AI-generated lyrics for phrasing, structure, and original language
✅ Editing melody lines to suit natural phrasing or musicality
✅ Altering the arrangement or structure of the song
✅ Adding original instrumental or vocal performances
✅ Making intentional creative decisions beyond AI defaults
The more you personalize and interpret the song, the stronger your claim becomes.
These changes alone likely won't make the song copyrightable:
If it looks and sounds like AI-generated content, that's what the Copyright Office will assume.
Here's how to take control of your authorship:
Generic AI line: "I miss you more each day."
Rewritten: "Your coat still hangs by the back door / but your scent's almost gone."
The generic version is too literal. What writers call "on the nose." It's obvious. Notice the "mind pictures" that the rewrite creates. This kind of imagery "reveals the unsaid." We know what the singer feels without without it being said directly. This is precisely the way novelists write, and songwriters should too. It allows the listener to participate in the story and figure out what's going on—and listeners (and readers) love that.
For more on rewriting AI lyrics, check out our article: "Fix My AI Song: 5 Common Problems with AI-Generated Lyrics."
Sing the melody yourself. Change what doesn't feel natural. Even subtle phrasing shifts create authorship.
AI can sometimes make the same mistakes that inexperienced songwriters make. One of these is creating a melody that has too wide a range. Inexperienced songwriters will often sing the melody in falsetto instead of their full voice. What results is writing a melody that has too wide a note range. If you can't sing it yourself, why would you think someone else could?
I heard an AI song like this the other day. It was a male AI voice that went from low notes in the verse to very high notes in the chorus, and even higher in the bridge. It was easily a three-octave range. This was also a country song, and, on average, most male country singers have a range of about an octave and two notes.
In the real world, only a small number of male vocalists boast a two-octave singing range, let alone a three-octave range. Those who can hit three octaves include Freddie Mercury, Axl Rose, Chris Cornell, Robert Plant, Steve Perry, and Bruce Dickinson, to name a few. Some male singers, known for their high tenor voices, primarily sing in the high register and avoid low notes.
📌 Pro Tip: Map the notes, from low to high, that AI uses in the melody, and make sure that most singers will be able to sing the range. If your melody goes beyond an octave and two notes, or an octave and a half at most—your range is too wide. (The only exception to this is if you are purposely writing for a vocalist who has a two- or three-octave range, but you wouldn't do this if you are writing a song to pitch to a random artist).
Add a pre-chorus or bridge (a.k.a middle eight). Reorder verses. Insert a breakdown. These structural decisions make the song yours.
Even if you used AI for the base idea, human performance adds irreplaceable nuance—and helps prove creative input. Remember: AI misses nuances. As the "human" songwriter, that is your job.
A producer played me an AI track the other day that, on the surface, sounded very good. However, upon closer examination of the details, what was missing that would be present in a human-performed song became glaringly obvious.
First, the peaks and valleys of the dynamics. The attack, accents, and expression from the instruments weren't there. There was also the repetition of certain parts. A human wouldn't always do the same thing twice. There would be subtle differences, not only in timing, but within the part itself. For example, a human guitarist wouldn't repeat the same melodic motif over and over for multiple measures without either note or expression changes—or both.
These little variations are what keep music interesting, fresh, and take the listener on an unpredictable journey. AI doesn't do this (yet).
So, if you're presenting your song to music publishers or music licensing companies and not disclosing it as AI-generated, be aware that those with a good ear will likely spot the missing human component.
To protect your claim:
It's not just about the final result—it's about showing how you shaped it.
Read more about this subject in our article "The Legal Gray Area of AI Co-Writing: Who Owns What?"
Do you need assistance with:
👉 Scroll to the link below for Country Demo Studio's AI-to-Human Song Service. They can help with rewriting country songs, as well as pop, rock, contemporary Christian, and Americana.
Need to humanize your AI song? We can help rewrite your lyrics, melody, or track to make it ready for copyright and pitching.
Country Demo Studio 🌐↗