The South Korean copyright office has drastically changed its rules in regard to AI works. This week, AI-generated music can now qualify for copyright registration in Korea. New registration guidelines that allow the registration of AI-assisted musical works in which a human has played a “substantial and leading role” in the creative process. Previously, AI-assisted music had been barred from copyright registration. Creators registering songs have to certify that no AI had been used. If the work was later found to have involved AI, the copyright association suspended royalty payments, removed the work from its registry, reclaimed royalties and triple damages for violations. The revised rules do not extend copyright protection to music created simply by entering one or two prompts into an AI program, a practice commonly referred to in Korean as “one-click composing.”
Registration under the new rules requires creators to disclose the role AI played in the work, including the tools used, how they were used and the applicant’s own creative input. Applicants must also certify the accuracy of the information. AI “tools” have rapidly gained traction for composing, arranging and even generating vocals.
The new rules are totally subjective. AI tools are not the same as a musician using ProTracks or Garageband to edit, arrange, multi-tack, adjust volume, panning, and effects per track, etc.,; a human being controls the output levels and final product.
In the US, there have been lower court rulings holding AI training on copyrighted materials is infringement. If one prompts AI to create a song from a specific Artist, it will pull data from that Artist’s files to output an inferior but derivative copy of prior songs and lyrics. No human being is playing instruments, singing vocals or composing lyrics to get to the AI generated output. It is all sampled, glued together, and spit out. This is why the US copyright office bans any AI generated content from registration.
The reason for the SK change is simple: major music agencies are pushing virtual groups and AI songs. And the Korean government is all-in on AI technology; it wants to be the leader in the field. More and more people are unaware or don’t care if the newest Spotify songs are AI generated. AI is not a human creative equivalent since it has no creativity: the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work. Even if a human tweaks AI generated music, it is still objectively a non-registrable AI song.
Musicians and songwriters are having a hard time making a living in the current landscape of music distribution and meager royalty payments from digital platforms. Big music and entertainment companies are looking to cut out the human creators (who would be owed royalties) from the new revenue model. AI is not a human being. Therefore, AI is not entitled to human copyright protections. Remember the ape selfie case where the camera owner…