Understanding U.S. Copyright Registration
Before submitting to Super Jingle, your work must be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.
Official Audio Explanation
Complete walkthrough of copyright requirements for AI-assisted music
Important information about copyright protection for AI-assisted and AI-generated musical works.
Critical Legal Update (March 2024)
The U.S. Copyright Office has clarified that purely AI-generated content cannot be copyrighted. Copyright protection requires "human authorship" as a fundamental requirement.
- Human-authored lyrics that you wrote yourself
- Original melodies composed by a human
- Musical arrangements where a human made creative decisions
- AI-assisted works where the human provided substantial creative input
- Sound recordings of human performances (even over AI backing tracks)
- Fully AI-generated lyrics without human input
- AI-composed melodies generated without human creative decisions
- Completely automated music creation with no human authorship
- Simple prompting without substantial creative contribution
- Unmodified AI outputs used as-is without human creativity
Document Your Creative Process
Keep records of your human contributions, creative decisions, and modifications.
Substantial Human Input
Ensure significant human creativity in composition, arrangement, or performance.
Be Transparent
When registering, clearly identify which elements involved AI assistance vs. human authorship.
Focus on Performance
Your human vocal or instrumental performance over AI-generated backing can be protected under SR registration.
Super Jingle accepts AI-assisted works where human creativity is substantial and clearly documented. You must be able to demonstrate human authorship for copyright registration. Pure AI-generated content without significant human contribution cannot be registered and therefore cannot be submitted to our platform.
Protects the musical composition itself.
Think of Form PA as the copyright for the "song" as it would appear on sheet music.
- • Protects the melody
- • Protects the lyrics
- • Protects the underlying harmony and rhythm
This is the fundamental copyright for the songwriter.
AI Note: Only register PA if human authorship is substantial in the composition.
Protects a specific recorded version of a song.
Think of Form SR as the copyright for the "master recording" you hear on a record or a stream.
- • Protects the artist's performance
- • Protects the producer's work
- • Protects the specific audio capture
If you wrote AND recorded the song, you may need to file for both.
AI Note: Human performances over AI backing tracks can typically qualify for SR protection.