Release an AI-assisted track today and you'll be asked about AI in at least three places: your distributor's upload form, your performing rights organisation's work registration and, if you register in the US, the Copyright Office application. Then there are the credits you write yourself, on Bandcamp, in a YouTube description or in liner notes. Each asks the question differently, and it's easy to answer them slightly differently every time. This guide shows how to write one master AI-use statement for a release and turn it into short, consistent versions for each place it's needed.
A quick note first: we're one human songwriter and Petunia, our AI collaborator, not lawyers, and this isn't legal advice. Rules are changing fast, so check each organisation's current guidance before you submit, and talk to a music lawyer if a release matters commercially.
Why One Statement Matters
The systems you're feeding don't share a vocabulary. Spotify said in September 2025 that it was helping develop an industry standard for AI disclosures through DDEX, the format distributors use to deliver releases, working with distributors including DistroKid, CD Baby, Believe and EMPIRE. By April 2026 those disclosures had started appearing as AI credits in Song Credits on mobile, in beta, covering contributions such as vocals, lyrics, instrumentals or production. Crucially, Spotify only shows them where an artist has disclosed through their label or distributor. Apple Music introduced optional Transparency Tags in March 2026 and has said they'll become required for new deliveries in future.
Rights organisations ask a different question. ASCAP, BMI and SOCAN announced on 28 October 2025 that they now accept registrations of partially AI-generated works, meaning works that combine AI-generated content with human authorship, but works created entirely with AI aren't eligible. In the UK, PRS for Music's AI policy (version 1, October 2025) says AI-generated works can't be registered, AI-assisted works are represented if they meet the legal test for copyright, and members must specify during registration if either the music or the lyrics are AI generated. PRS also makes members solely responsible for the accuracy of their registrations.
The US Copyright Office asks a third way. Its registration guidance says applicants have a duty to disclose AI-generated content that is more than de minimis, describe the human contribution in the "Author Created" field, and exclude the AI material under "Material Excluded". It also says not to list an AI tool or its company as an author.
So the same song might be "AI vocals and instrumentation" to a distributor, "music AI generated, lyrics human" to PRS and "lyrics by the author; music generated by AI, excluded" to the Copyright Office. Those can all be true at once, but only if they describe the same facts. If one says the melody was yours and another says it was AI, you've created a contradiction someone may one day ask about.
Step by Step: Write the Master Statement
Step 1 — List the parts of the release. Split the track into the pieces the forms ask about: lyrics, melody and composition, vocals, instrumentation, arrangement, mix and master, and artwork. Add anything else that applies, such as a music video.
Step 2 — Label each part honestly. For each piece, choose one of three labels: Human (you made it, with or without ordinary tools), AI-generated (the tool made it and you kept it largely as it came out) or AI-assisted (you made it and AI helped refine or extend it, or the tool made it and you substantially rewrote or replaced it). Be strict. PRS's policy says prompts alone won't make you the author, and small tweaks to AI-generated lyrics or music are highly unlikely to either.
Step 3 — Write down what you actually did. One sentence per part, in plain English, naming the tool. For example:
Lyrics: written by [name], human. Melody and instrumentation: generated in Suno from [name]'s lyrics and style prompt; [name] selected the take. Lead vocal: AI-generated (Suno). Arrangement: [name] cut and reordered sections in a DAW. Mix and master: [name], using AI-assisted mastering. Artwork: AI-generated, edited by [name].
Step 4 — Date it and file it with the project. Save it as ai-use-statement.txt next to your lyric drafts and session files. If you keep a release evidence file, as in our guide to documenting an AI-assisted track for platform disclosure, this statement sits on top of it as the summary. Every other version you write comes from this one, so it's the single source of truth.
Turn It Into Each Version
Step 5 — Distributor. Answer the upload form's AI questions element by element, copying your labels across rather than reinterpreting them. If your distributor offers separate fields for vocals, lyrics, instrumentation and production, use them all; if it only offers a single yes/no box, answer yes for any part you labelled AI-generated or AI-assisted, and keep the master statement in case you're asked for detail. Fields and wording differ between distributors and are changing, so read the form each time rather than relying on what you entered last release.
Step 6 — Rights organisation. Register only what qualifies, and mark the AI parts as the society asks. With PRS, that means declaring the music or lyrics as AI generated where your statement says so. With ASCAP, BMI or SOCAN, register only works with genuine human authorship, and follow each society's current instructions for describing it. A useful short form: Lyrics: human ([name]). Music: AI-generated (Suno), not claimed. If both the lyrics and the music were AI-generated, the song isn't eligible at any of these societies, so don't register it.
Step 7 — US Copyright Office, if you register there. Use the guidance's own structure. In "Author Created", describe only the human part, for example Lyrics, and selection and arrangement of sections. Under "Material Excluded", name the AI part, for example Music and vocals generated by artificial intelligence. Don't name Suno or any company as an author. Our guide to building a human-authorship paper trail covers the records behind this.
Step 8 — Public credits. Write one line people will actually read, consistent with everything above: Words by [name]. Music and vocals made with Suno, arranged and mixed by [name]. Artwork made with AI. Use the same line on Bandcamp, in YouTube descriptions and in liner notes, so listeners see what the platforms see.
Common Mistakes
Answering each form from scratch: write the master statement once and copy from it.
Claiming AI-generated parts as human: say what the tool made. Overclaiming weakens the parts you can genuinely defend, and PRS can act on knowingly false registrations.
Leaving the distributor fields blank: on Spotify, credits only appear when you disclose through your distributor, and Spotify itself notes that a missing AI credit doesn't mean AI wasn't used.
Listing the AI tool as a co-writer: it isn't an author for registration purposes. Name it in the description of what you did instead.
Not updating after changes: if you re-sing a vocal or replace an AI part later, update the master statement and every version that came from it.
Where That Leaves Us
AI disclosure is turning from a footnote into a delivery field, and the questions will keep changing. The habit that holds up is simple: one honest, dated statement per release, split into the parts every form asks about, and short versions that never contradict it. 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
Music Business Worldwide — Spotify to show AI tags in Song Credits (April 2026; AI credits beta, disclosure via distributors, DDEX standard, Apple Music Transparency Tags)
BMI — ASCAP, BMI and SOCAN Announce Alignment on AI Registration Policies (28 October 2025; partially AI-generated works accepted, fully AI works not eligible)
PRS for Music — PRS for Music and Artificial Intelligence Policy (version 1, October 2025; AI-generated v AI-assisted works, declaring AI components at registration)
US Copyright Office — Copyright Registration Guidance: Works Containing Material Generated by Artificial Intelligence (March 2023; duty to disclose, "Author Created" and "Material Excluded")
InterSpace — AI Disclosure Just Became a Delivery Field (July 2026; distributor rollout of AI disclosure fields)
