AI Wrote Your Song - So Do You Own It?
The Supreme Court Says No.
Preface: AI is changing songwriting fast. But if AI wrote your song… do you actually own it? In this video, Gilli from Songsalive! breaks down what every songwriter needs to know about AI, authorship, and copyright. Following the recent decision involving the Supreme Court of the United States in Thaler v. Perlmutter, U.S. law is clear: copyright protection requires human authorship. So where does that leave songs created with tools like Suno AI? In this video, you’ll learn:
Why fully AI-generated songs are not copyrightable
What counts as human authorship
When AI is a tool versus the creator
Real examples from songwriting workshops
How Songsalive! approaches AI in song critique
Whether you're a songwriter, producer, or experimenting with AI music, this is essential to understand before you release or monetize your work.
WATCH VIDEO ABOVE and read below
Let's get into it: Songwriting has always evolved with technology. From pianos to Pro Tools, every new tool has raised the same quiet question in the background: does this change what it means to write a song?
Right now, that question is front and center with tools like Suno AI that can generate full songs from a prompt. At Songsalive!, I’ve been seeing more of this come into our workshops, so I’ve been leaning into the facts rather than opinions. Because underneath the curiosity, there’s a real issue around authorship and ownership.
The current legal position in the United States is actually very clear. In Thaler v. Perlmutter, the Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear the case in March 2026, which leaves in place the ruling that copyrightable works require human authorship. The Copyright Office has been consistent on this. AI is a tool, not an author.
What that means in plain English is this. If a song is generated entirely by AI, even if it sounds incredible, you do not own it as a songwriter. It is not copyrightable. Prompts alone are not considered authorship. There has to be meaningful human creative input for something to be protected.
Where it gets more interesting is when AI is used as part of the process. If you write your own lyrics, create your own melody, shape the structure, and then use AI to enhance the production or explore ideas, that work can still be protected. In that case, AI is doing what technology has always done in music. It supports the process, but it does not replace the writer.
As a songwriter, I personally see AI as a useful tool, but never a substitute for the craft. Yes, it can generate hundreds of polished, commercially viable tracks in minutes. But that is not songwriting, and it is not something you can own in the traditional sense.
Coming back to basics helps. A song has always been defined as lyrics and melody. Strip everything else away and those are the elements that carry the story, the emotion, and the identity of the piece.
We saw this play out recently in one of our workshops. One member brought in lyrics they had written, with everything else generated by AI. Another brought in a song where they had written both the lyrics and melody, performed it themselves, and used AI to enhance the production.
Both used AI, but only one brought a songwriter authored song.
That distinction matters, especially in a critique setting. Our workshops are designed to help writers improve their craft. Melody, lyric, structure, emotional impact. If those elements are generated by AI, there is nothing for us to really workshop. But if those elements come from the writer, then we can dig in, challenge, refine, and elevate.
So rather than draw a hard line around AI, we’re taking a more practical approach.
We welcome AI assisted work. We simply focus our feedback on the parts you wrote.
If you bring lyrics with an AI generated melody, we will workshop the lyrics. If you bring a melody you wrote with AI lyrics or placeholders, we will focus on the music. And if you bring a fully written song, lyrics and melody, then you get full songwriting feedback.
What we do not critique as songwriting are pieces where the core composition, the lyric and melody, are generated by AI. In those cases, it is not about excluding the work. It is about being clear on what we can meaningfully help you develop.
This approach keeps us aligned with both the law and our mission. Human authorship is what gives a song ownership, and it is also what gives us something to grow.
AI is not going anywhere. It is already part of the creative landscape and will only become more sophisticated. The opportunity is not to resist it, but to use it with intention.
At the end of the day, the tools may change, but the heart of songwriting remains the same.
It begins with a human.
BOTTOMLINE - How Songsalive! is taking action:
If you are coming to a Songsalive! Song Critique Workshop soon, you will find a new question in the song critique form that asks if your song was written or partly written by AI. We don't discourage AI use. We just want you to be transparent about it so that we can provide the right feedback to help you, as the human piece of this, write songs, which is our aim. We can't improve an AI bot. We're here for you. See you at the next workshop.
We will continue to provide more ways to help enable your successful songwriting. Whether it be more music industry guest speakers who can give their expertise or services, where we continue to foster co-writing and collaboration connections, and - yes - where we help our songwriters gain access to tools to help their writing and promotion of songs (that CAN include AI, but not exclusive to it.)
Let's all continue the conversation together as we navigate this unchartered land.
Best,
Gilli Moon President Songsalive!
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