AI Policy and registering music created with AI
The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in music creation has grown significantly over recent years. Our survey of PRS members in 2023 showed that nearly 30% were already using AI in the creative process, while 55% said they were planning to use AI in the future. The most common uses were in music production, mixing and mastering.
Music creators are looking for guidance on whether works which have been generated by, or with the assistance of, AI (“AI works”) can be registered with PRS.
The PRS Members’ Council have considered this issue carefully, including a review of relevant case law, and they have developed our new AI policy.
PRS was formed to protect the rights and interests of human writers, composers, and publishers. The PRS Members’ Council have reviewed existing case law to develop our AI policy. It’s based on two guiding principles:
- PRS will only represent musical works and associated literary works which meet the legal requirements to qualify for copyright protection.
- To qualify for copyright protection, music and/or lyrics must be the original work of a human author or authors.
AI policy summary
AI Generated Works
AI generated lyrics and compositions (“AI Generated Works”) with no human author or with insufficient human contribution in the work are not protected by copyright under UK law, as originality is tied to human authorship. Members are therefore not permitted to register AI Generated Works with PRS.
AI Assisted Works
Members may register works with PRS where AI has been used only as an assistive tool in the human-led composition process and the work satisfies the originality test (“AI Assisted Works”). For a work to meet PRS’ definition of AI Assisted and therefore be registrable, there must be sufficient human contribution in the work, and it must reflect the originality, creativity, and effort of the human author(s).
Registration of lyrics and composition
Under UK law, the music and lyrics that may make up a song are separate copyrights. Although PRS allows music and associated lyrics to be registered together as a single work, members have always been able to name the composer(s) of the music and author(s) of the lyrics separately.
Where lyrics are AI generated but the composition was human created (including AI assisted) the author(s) of the work can register their ownership of the composition and must declare the AI generated component as “AI” or vice versa.
Penalties for false and misleading registrations
PRS members are solely responsible for the accuracy of works registrations. Penalties will be applied under Rule 3 and Rule 5 of the PRS Rules where members have knowingly made a false registration, for example, registering an AI generated work which does not attract copyright.
Detection of suspicious activity
PRS is developing processes, tools, and mechanisms to identify anomalies in registrations such as excessive numbers of registrations, alongside robust systems to address repeated attempts of AI generated works being registered.
FAQs
The questions below are to help you understand how our AI policy works in practice. We will regularly review this information to reflect the latest policy, technology, and industry developments.
Only a court of law can definitively decide what counts as sufficient human contribution, creativity, and effort to satisfy the originality test. If you’re unsure, you can seek legal advice. All PRS members have access to one hour of free legal advice.
The examples below are to help show how different uses of AI satisfy the originality test, and whether the work could be registered with PRS.
These examples are for educational purposes only and are not legally binding.
- Prompts or minor alterations: Generating a piece of music using prompts alone will not be considered by PRS to be sufficiently original to be registered. Similarly, tweaks or edits to an AI generated composition or AI generated lyrics are highly unlikely to make you the author, and the work is equally unlikely to be copyright protected and shouldn’t be registered.
- AI to amend or enhance: Where a composer has written an original melody and used AI to add instrumentation, or where a songwriter has used AI to refine original lyrics, the work may satisfy the originality test. It’s the music creator’s responsibility to ensure the work can still be considered their own intellectual creation, despite these amendments or additions by AI, before registering with PRS.
- AI-assisted mixing and mastering: Where a composer writes the melody, lyrics, and arrangement, and then uses AI tools to mix and/or master the track, the work is highly likely to satisfy the originality test and can be registered with PRS.
If an original work contains one AI generated component (lyrics or composition), you must declare this component as “AI” in the registration. Currently, you cannot register works with AI generated lyrics or composition. We’re updating our Register My Music tool to accommodate this scenario and will provide details when it is available.
Risk of copyright infringement
Many AI tools are trained using vast quantities of musical works that have been scraped from the internet without authorisation. If you use one of these unlicensed AI services, there is a significant risk that the output infringes on another creator’s copyright. To be on the safe side, we recommend that you only use AI services which clearly show they have obtained authorisation from all appropriate copyright holders for the use of their works.
Ownership of AI outputs
You should check the Terms of Service of the AI tool to make sure that you own the rights in the output, as some AI services claim ownership of works generated by users. PRS’s policy prohibits members from transferring the ownership of performing rights exclusively assigned to PRS to an AI company, without prior consent from PRS for Music.
