Royalties
AI Music Royalties
How royalties work for AI-generated and AI-assisted music — and why the human behind the music is what gets paid.
Music made entirely by AI — with no human author — can't be copyrighted in the United States. The U.S. Copyright Office has been clear that copyright protects human creativity, and that prompts alone don't make you an author. AI-assisted music is different: when a person contributes real creative work — writing, performing, arranging, or meaningfully editing what the AI produces — that human contribution is protectable.
That distinction drives the money. You don't need a copyright registration to collect royalties, but you do need a human rights holder. PROs like ASCAP and BMI, and the mechanical collective The MLC, pay songwriters, performers, and the companies that represent them — real people. A track with no human author has no one to register, no rights to license, and no clear path to collect. (This follows from the copyrightability rules; it hasn't been tested in court.)
For AI-assisted music with a human author, royalties flow the same as any other release: recording royalties for the master, plus mechanical and performance royalties for the composition. The work is making sure the humans behind it are identified and registered so every platform routes payment correctly — which is what Musician Verified credits are for.
Notes does not currently distribute AI-generated music. Notes exists to help human musicians, companies, and rights owners collect in full — so as AI reshapes the industry, our focus is making sure the music we work with is fairly represented and fairly compensated for every use, within the terms of each platform.
AI music can still earn through user-generated-content systems like Content ID — but only if it doesn't impersonate a real artist. Platforms tightened these rules in 2025 (Spotify now blocks unauthorized AI voice clones), and that revenue is platform-contract money, not proof that you own a copyright. Whether AI companies need a license to train their models on copyrighted music is unsettled and currently being fought out in court.
Good to know
AI Music Royalties: common questions
- Can I distribute AI music with Notes?
- Not at this time — Notes does not currently distribute AI-generated music. Notes is built to get human musicians, companies, and rights owners paid in full, and to make sure the music it represents is fairly credited and compensated wherever it is used.
- Can AI-generated music be copyrighted?
- Purely AI-generated music, with no human author, cannot be copyrighted in the US. But AI-assisted music is protectable to the extent of the human creative contribution — the parts a person wrote, performed, arranged, or meaningfully edited.
- Can I collect royalties on AI music?
- Only where there is a human rights holder to register and pay. PROs and The MLC pay people and the companies that represent them, so a track with no human author has no clear way to collect. AI-assisted music with a human author collects normally.
- How does Notes treat AI music?
- Notes champions human-made, verified music. It does not distribute AI-generated music today, and its role as AI grows is to ensure the music it works with is represented and compensated fairly, within each platform’s terms.