Korea moves to establish ground rules for AI-created music
Summary
Korea is moving to set rules for AI-created music, with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism co-hosting a forum Tuesday in the National Assembly. The event will focus on copyright, licensing and how to judge human creative contribution in AI-assisted works. It will bring together creators, industry groups, legal experts and policymakers. The ministry said it is the first in a planned series of follow-up forums.
Key Facts
- The forum is co-hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the office of Rep. Kim Jae-won and the K-Music Rights Organizations Coexistence Committee.
- The committee includes six industry groups, among them the Korea Music Copyright Association and the Korea Popmusic Industry Association.
- Kim Hye-chang of the Korea Copyright Commission will present copyright registration standards for generative-AI works, including overseas cases.
- Lawyer Seol Ji-hye of Yulchon will propose revising how trust organizations register AI-related music works for licensing.
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As generative artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes how music is written and produced, Korea is stepping up efforts to set clear ground rules for the digital era.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Monday that it will co-host a major forum Tuesday to address emerging copyright and licensing challenges surrounding AI-assisted music.
The discussion, set to take place at the National Assembly, is organized with the office of Rep. Kim Jae-won and the K-Music Rights Organizations Coexistence Committee — a coalition of six industry groups, including the Korea Music Copyright Association and the Korea Popmusic Industry Association, that represent songwriters, labels, performers and producers.
Organizers billed it as the first public forum bringing together creators, industry, legal experts and policymakers to discuss how copyright-trust organizations — nonprofit bodies that collect and distribute royalties on behalf of rights holders — should register, collect fees for and distribute payments involving AI-generated or AI-assisted music.
Under the theme "The Current State of AI Music Use and Standards for Judging Human Creative Contribution," Kim Hye-chang, head of the Korea Copyright Commission's policy research bureau, will present copyright registration standards for generative-AI works, including cases from other countries. Lawyer Seol Ji-hye of law firm Yulchon will follow with proposals to revise how trust organizations register AI-related music works for licensing.
A panel discussion will follow, moderated by Sogang University professor Park Jun-woo and including representatives from music publishing, streaming platforms, AI-detection technology and academia, before the floor opens to questions from attendees.
The ministry said Tuesday's session is the first in a planned series of follow-up forums, with a future discussion expected to tackle how royalties from AI-assisted music should be divided among rights holders.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.
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