Ai music based on real work - unclear T&Cs

Ask a Question Distribution & Releases
1

Hello community,

I would like to change my distributor and am considering iMusician. However, AI will increasingly dominate the music landscape over time. I’m not here to discuss whether that’s a good or bad thing. I have a specific question about the terms and conditions, as I find them somewhat unclear:

Years ago (2020), I created a track entirely on my own, without using AI. This track was relatively well received.

Now I would like to have several song variations created based on this track. So an electronic version, maybe rock… music styles that I cannot create myself.

Now the question is: Can I release this music (as an album with the original song), or would iMusician reject it?

Because I can interpret the terms and conditions in two ways:

  1. The original track is composed entirely by myself, so any additional tracks created with AI are not purely AI-produced products. - iMusician is ok with that. Or
  2. Every track (except the original) was created entirely with AI, so it is a purely AI-produced product. - and iMusician is not ok with that

“We do not accept AI-generated content for distribution if it is entirely created using AI” - well, it’s a yes or no depending on your point of view.

“This means that while you may use AI tools as part of your creative process—such as for inspiration, arrangement assistance, or sound design—the final composition must involve significant human input.” - the final composition is based on my own work, I will remaster the generated music myself, so there is definitely human input

“Fully automated music generation, where AI solely composes, arranges, and produces a track without meaningful human contribution, will not be accepted.” - again, could be a yes or a no depending on your view. Technically, the AI does everything above… but on my own work. So „meaningful human contribution“ is a unclear term in this case.

I also found a topic here in the forum about this specific case, but it’s nearly 2 years old and the T&Cs seem to be different now because the answer there was that AI use is not allowed whatsoever, so I guess time changed some things in this matter.

It would be good to get a concrete answer here. Of course, I would still master the tracks created with AI myself, which means I would also make human adjustments there.

Many thanks,
Denis

1 Like
2

hi @Denis , I’m forwarding this to @Carlos to give you advice on this :v:

1 Like
3

Hey @Denis,

As long as you’re transparent with your approach and that your metadata is filled correctly (i.e. you clearly indicate that each version is an alternative of the original), that shouldn’t be an issue.

However, our quality assurance will review your submissions carefully and will reject any content that doesn’t align with the shops policies regarding AI (e.g. abusive submissions/versions of the same track, excessive volume of AI submissions, etc).

Our quality assurance checks are done on a case-by-case basis, so it’s impossible to give you a clear unswear here on the forum.

Best regards,

1 Like
4

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.