Ferrer-Bonsoms & Sanjurjo, Lawyers — Intellectual Property, FinTech and Artificial Intelligence Law
Tools such as Suno, Udio and similar platforms can generate a complete song — lyrics, melody and production — in a matter of seconds. This speed is transforming the music industry, but it is also raising a question that is reaching our law firm with increasing frequency: can a musician register and commercially exploit a song created with artificial intelligence?
The short answer is that not every part of the work is protected in the same way. Spanish and European copyright law protects human creation, not the output produced solely by an algorithm. If you intend to publish, license or monetise AI-generated or AI-assisted music, it is important to understand where the legal boundary lies before investing time and money in promoting it.
What the Platforms Say Is Not the Same as What the Law Says
The terms of use of these platforms generally regulate who may commercially exploit a song depending on the subscription plan purchased. Under free plans, the platform usually reserves ownership of the generated content and limits its use to non-commercial purposes. Under paid plans, users are normally granted a commercial licence to exploit the generated music.
That is a contractual relationship between the user and the platform. It should not be confused with the protection granted by copyright law. The fact that a platform grants you commercial rights over a track does not necessarily mean that the track is also protected as a copyrighted work. These are two separate legal issues, and only the second determines whether you can prevent others from copying your song or exclusively license it to a record label or production company.
What Spanish and European Law Says About AI-Generated Music
Article 5(1) of the Spanish Intellectual Property Act states that the author of a work is the natural person who creates it. Article 10 further requires that the work be an original creation reflecting that person’s own intellectual contribution. Both the Spanish Supreme Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union have consistently held that copyright protection requires free, conscious and genuinely human creative decisions.
In practice, this has a direct consequence: a track generated entirely by artificial intelligence from a prompt, without editing or significant human contribution, is not, in principle, a copyright-protected work. There is no author in the legal sense and, therefore, no copyright capable of being registered or enforced against third parties.
There is also an important recent development. Article 50 of the European AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) requires providers of general-purpose AI systems capable of generating content to ensure that synthetic content is marked in a machine-readable manner. This obligation has applied since 2 August 2026. As a result, identifying which parts of a work originate from an AI system will become increasingly straightforward, something that should also be taken into account when declaring authorship of a song.
It should also be remembered that the training of AI systems using copyrighted music without authorisation is currently the subject of litigation in several jurisdictions. That legal uncertainty is yet another reason to carefully document which parts of your song are genuinely your own creation.
What You Can Protect When Using AI to Create Music
The law does not reject AI-assisted music as a category. It protects the elements that reflect your own creative decisions. Among the elements that may be protected are:
- Original lyrics written by you.
- Significant modifications to the melody, structure or arrangement.
- Vocals or instrumental performances recorded by you.
- Any editing that demonstrates your own creative contribution and can be distinguished from the material generated by the AI system.
The more evidence you keep of your creative process — lyric drafts, earlier versions of the song, recordings of editing sessions — the stronger your position will be if you ever need to prove authorship before the Intellectual Property Registry or a court.
What You Cannot Protect
As a general rule, the following cannot be protected:
- A track generated entirely by AI and published without any editing.
- A melody created solely by the AI system and used without modification.
- A song produced exclusively from a prompt without any additional human creative contribution.
Registering a work generated entirely by AI as if it were your own, without disclosing that fact, may not only result in the refusal or invalidity of the registration. If the song later becomes commercially successful and someone copies it, your ability to bring a successful infringement claim could be seriously weakened.
Why This Matters When Monetising and Licensing Your Music
This issue becomes more than a theoretical discussion as soon as you wish to:
- License the song for films, television or advertising (sync licensing).
- Distribute it through streaming platforms.
- Assign music publishing rights to a publisher.
- Take legal action against someone who copies your work.
Music publishers, streaming platforms and synchronisation agencies are increasingly asking about the degree of AI involvement in a work before signing agreements. If you cannot clearly demonstrate which parts of the work are genuinely yours, the deal may fall through or be negotiated on much less favourable terms.
How an Intellectual Property Lawyer Can Help
Appropriate legal advice in this area may include:
- Reviewing the terms of the AI platform you use and assessing whether they are compatible with your intended commercial exploitation.
- Determining which parts of your work satisfy the legal requirements of human authorship and originality.
- Preparing the registration of your work before the Intellectual Property Registry while correctly declaring the AI-generated elements.
- Drafting or reviewing licensing, assignment and music publishing agreements.
- Identifying legal risks before investing in promotion or commercial distribution.
Ferrer-Bonsoms & Sanjurjo Lawyers
At Ferrer-Bonsoms & Sanjurjo Lawyers we have more than thirty years of experience advising clients on intellectual property, industrial property and new technologies. With offices in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Pamplona, Valladolid and Palma de Mallorca, we advise musicians, production companies and record labels that incorporate AI tools into their creative process and need to ensure that their music is properly protected, commercially exploitable and legally robust in the event of future disputes.
Practical Steps If You Use AI to Compose Music
- Write and preserve your original lyrics.
- Make significant structural or melodic changes to the AI-generated material.
- Keep all drafts and intermediate versions.
- Document your recording and editing sessions.
- Transparently disclose the AI-generated elements when registering the work.
- Consult an intellectual property lawyer before licensing or commercially distributing your music.
Artificial intelligence can accelerate your creative process. It does not replace human authorship in the eyes of the law. If you want your music to be properly protected and ready to generate revenue without future legal complications, Ferrer-Bonsoms & Sanjurjo Lawyers can help.
Contact us: ferrer-bonsoms.com · despacho@ferrer-bonsoms.com