You've made a background track with an AI generator, it sits nicely under your video, and you're about to post. Six months later a claim lands, or a brand asks for proof that you're allowed to use the music, and all you have is a vague memory of which plan you were on. A licence log fixes that. It's a simple record, kept per track and per video, that shows where the music came from, what the terms said on the day you downloaded it, and which platform rules applied when you posted.
A quick note first: we're one human songwriter and Petunia, our AI collaborator. This is practical record-keeping advice, not legal advice. Terms change, and the only wording that counts is the vendor's and the platform's own, so this guide shows you how to check those yourself rather than trust a summary (ours included).
Why Marketing Copy Isn't Enough
"Royalty-free" and "commercial use included" on a pricing page are sales lines. The real rules sit in the terms of service, and they can be narrower than the headline. Suno is a good example. Its updated terms took effect on 3 September 2026. On the free plan, outputs are for lawful, personal and non-commercial use, and the free plan's handful of trial downloads are personal use only. On Pro and Premier, Suno assigns you its rights in the output, but commercial use depends on the song having been downloaded through an approved channel while you were a paying subscriber. Rights from those paid downloads are described as perpetual, so cancelling or downgrading later doesn't take them away. Remixes aren't covered for commercial use on any tier. And Suno makes no promise that copyright exists in the output at all.
None of that detail is on a pricing badge, and every bit of it changes what you can do with a track. That's the case for a log: you write down the specific clause, the date, and the evidence, at the moment you download.
Step by Step: Set Up the Log
Step 1 — Pick one place and stick to it. A spreadsheet works well, with one row per track and a second tab with one row per video. Add a folder next to it for screenshots and saved terms. The tool matters less than doing it every time.
Step 2 — Create the track columns. We'd suggest: Track ID (your own short code), Track title, Generator, Plan / tier at creation, Plan / tier at download, Download date, Download method (for example, the in-app download button), Song link or ID in the generator, Terms version / last-revised date, Commercial-use clause (quoted), Screenshot file name, Restrictions (remix, stems, attribution), Human edits and Notes.
Step 3 — Create the video columns. On the second tab: Video title, Platform, Account type (personal, creator, business), Monetised?, Promotes a product or client?, Track ID(s) used, AI disclosure set?, Post date, Video URL and Claims or notices. Linking videos to tracks by ID means one track used in ten videos still has one source of truth.
Step by Step: Fill It In When You Download
Step 4 — Record the plan at download, not just at creation. With Suno in particular, the download is the moment that matters for commercial rights. Note your plan on the day, and keep the billing receipt or a screenshot of your account page showing the active subscription.
Step 5 — Save the terms, not just a link. Open the generator's terms page, note the "last revised" and "effective" dates, and save a PDF or screenshot into your folder. Copy the exact commercial-use sentence into the log in quotation marks. If the terms are updated later, your copy shows what applied when you downloaded.
Step 6 — Note the restrictions that catch people out. Check and record: is the output a remix or cover of something else? Are remixes excluded? Is attribution required? Does the vendor forbid removing watermarks or metadata (Suno's terms do)? Do the terms say third-party platforms' own rules also apply (Suno's do)? A "no" is worth writing down too.
Step 7 — Write down what you changed. If you edited the arrangement, wrote the lyrics, replaced sections or mixed the stems yourself, say so briefly. It helps with platform disclosure, and it matters for YouTube's monetisation rules (more on that below).
Step by Step: Check the Platform Before You Post
Step 8 — YouTube: decide on disclosure. YouTube's help page on generative AI asks creators to disclose realistic AI-generated or altered content, and it lists AI-generated music as an example, including music that's the main focus of a video. You set this under "AI use" in YouTube Studio's attributes. YouTube says disclosure on its own won't limit reach or the ability to earn money, but repeatedly failing to disclose can lead to penalties, up to removal from the YouTube Partner Program. For a quiet bed under a talking-head video, use your judgement; when in doubt, disclose, and log what you chose.
Step 9 — YouTube: check the monetisation angle. YouTube renamed its "repetitious content" policy to "inauthentic content" in July 2025. Channels shouldn't be mass-produced or repetitive, and AI content made from generic templates without the creator's own input isn't eligible to earn. Under the reused-content rules, songs that are only pitch- or speed-shifted but otherwise identical don't count as new. Your Human edits column is where you show the real changes you made.
Step 10 — TikTok: check your account type. Personal accounts can use TikTok's general sound library. Business accounts only see the Commercial Music Library in the editor. Soundstripe's 2026 summary says business accounts can add independently licensed music before uploading and confirm it through TikTok's "Music Usage Confirmation", which it describes as a self-attestation rather than a guarantee. That's exactly why the log matters: if you tick that box, you should be able to show your evidence. If your account earns money or promotes a business, check TikTok's own commercial-music help page before relying on any summary.
Step 11 — TikTok: label realistic AI audio. TikTok asks creators to label AI-generated content that contains realistic images, audio or video. You can do it with the "AI-generated content" setting in the post options or in the caption. Content made with TikTok's own AI effects, or carrying C2PA Content Credentials, may get an automatic label that you can't remove. Log whether a label was applied and how.
The Pre-Upload Check
Before each post, run through this list against the log:
Source: is the track in the log, with a track ID?
Plan: was it downloaded on a plan that allows commercial use, if this video is monetised or promotional?
Evidence: are the terms copy, quoted clause and receipt or account screenshot saved?
Restrictions: no remix, cover or watermark issues?
Platform: right account type, right music route (library, your own upload, or confirmation)?
Disclosure: AI label decided and recorded?
Changes: human edits noted, especially for monetised YouTube channels?
Common Mistakes
Logging the plan you have now: what counts is the plan when you downloaded.
Keeping a link instead of a copy: terms pages are updated in place, so a link shows today's wording, not the wording you relied on.
Assuming "commercial use" covers every platform: vendor terms can defer to the platform's own rules, and platforms set their own conditions for business accounts and monetisation.
Treating a checkbox as proof: a self-confirmation on upload is only as good as the records behind it.
Forgetting old free-plan tracks: if a track came from a free-plan trial download, mark it non-commercial and keep it out of paid or promotional videos unless you've confirmed otherwise in the current terms.
Where That Leaves Us
A licence log takes a couple of minutes per track, and it turns "I think I was on Pro" into a dated receipt, a saved copy of the terms and a clear note of what you changed. That's what you want in hand when a claim, a brand or a platform asks. If you'd like to hear the songs we make together, a human songwriter and Petunia, our AI collaborator, they're on the homepage, and our Suno Guide has the prompts, style tags and how-to guides we keep coming back to.
Sources
Suno — Terms of Service (last revised 10 August 2026, effective 3 September 2026; non-commercial free outputs, assignment on paid plans, permitted downloads, remixes, watermarks and metadata)
Suno — An update to our downloads policy and Terms of Service (August 2026; download limits by plan, trial downloads personal use only)
YouTube Help — Disclosing use of GenAI content (AI-generated music, "AI use" attribute, penalties for non-disclosure)
YouTube Help — YouTube channel monetisation policies (July 2025 rename to "inauthentic content", reused content, pitch- or speed-shifted songs)
TikTok Support — AI-generated content (labelling realistic AI audio, the AI-generated content setting, auto labels and C2PA)
Soundstripe — TikTok Music Licensing Rules for Creators and Brands (updated September 2026; business accounts, Commercial Music Library, Music Usage Confirmation)
