How to register AI-assisted music with OSA

AI and copyright: When can you (and when can't you) register with OSA?

Artificial intelligence is changing the way we make music. But it is also changing who that music legally belongs to – and whether it belongs to anyone at all.

This article is based on OSA's official position on registering musical works created with the help of AI. If you distribute music and want to know why registering with OSA matters in the first place, read our article Why register with OSA – money slipping through your fingers first.

The basic rule of the Czech Copyright Act is clear: ONLY A HUMAN CAN BE AN AUTHOR. An AI tool – however sophisticated – cannot be an author. Everything else follows from that.

The key question is not “did you use AI?” but “where was your own creative contribution?” The more you shaped the result as a human, the stronger your claim to authorship.

Three basic scenarios

AI as a tool – you are the author

You use AI much like a DAW, a sequencer or other software. AI helps you with inspiration, generates ideas, processes sound – but the final form of the work is an expression of your own creative work. You edit, select, combine and rewrite.

► The work is yours and you register it with OSA in the standard way. You do not mention AI in the work notification – it is just a tool, like a piano or a microphone.

Part from you, part purely from AI

You composed the music yourself, but AI generated the lyrics without any further input from you. Or the other way round – you wrote the lyrics, but the music is pure AI output.

► You hold copyright only in the part you created yourself. You mark the other part in the work notification as OSA_AI. The shares are then split 50/50 between you and OSA_AI.

AI generated everything – without your input

You entered a prompt, AI generated a finished song including lyrics, and you used the output as it was – without any further edits or creative decisions.

► Such a work cannot be registered with OSA. It was not created by human creative activity, so no copyright arises in it at all.

Overview of situations and shares

Situation	Your share	OSA_AI share	Registration
Music and lyrics – all yours (AI only as a tool)	100%	–	Yes
Your music + AI lyrics (without your input)	50% (music)	50% (lyrics)	Yes, partially
AI music (without your input) + your lyrics	50% (lyrics)	50% (music)	Yes, partially
AI generated everything, without your creative contribution	0%	–	No

So what exactly is “OSA_AI”?

OSA_AI is a technical placeholder rights holder that OSA introduced to mark the part of a work created solely by an AI tool. It does not mean that OSA is claiming the rights for itself – it is purely a way to register such a work in the database technically and make it possible to license it.

So if you list OSA_AI in the work notification, you are saying: “I did not create this part as a human – an AI tool did.”

Practical examples

You wrote great lyrics but have no music to go with them. You generated a beat with an AI prompt and sang your lyrics over it.

► In the work notification: You as lyricist (50%) + OSA_AI as composer (50%)

You composed both the music and the lyrics. You didn't like the chord progression in the chorus, so you asked AI to suggest changes to the chords. You liked the output, tweaked one more chord yourself and re-recorded the chorus.

► In the work notification: You as both composer and lyricist (100%) – AI served as a source of inspiration, the creative decisions were yours.

You make neoclassical electronic music. You used AI to generate samples, which you then worked on further creatively. Your friend Honza helped you as a co-writer (you agreed on a 70/30 split).

► In the work notification: You as composer (70%) + Honza as composer (30%) – AI was only a source of material, the creative work was yours.

You had AI generate an entire song including sung lyrics and want to register it with OSA unchanged.

Result: The work notification will be rejected. Without a human creative contribution, no copyright arises.

What to watch out for

The AI service's terms Many AI tools prohibit commercial use of their output or its registration with collecting societies. Always read the terms – including how they depend on the plan you have chosen.

Keep evidence Keep records of your creative process – prompts, edits, versions, recordings. If a dispute over authorship ever arises, you will be glad you have them.

You are responsible for the accuracy of the notification OSA can claim damages if a false work notification causes harm to other authors or to OSA itself. Don't overstate your creative contribution.

Music and lyrics are assessed separately In the Czech Republic, the music and the lyrics are separate works. You may hold copyright in only one of them – and that is fine, as long as it is stated correctly in the work notification.

OSA and distribution each assess AI differently. For OSA, what counts is your creative contribution to the work. In Artists Bez Labelu, you answer the question “Is it AI-generated music?” for each recording in the Track origin section – and the answer is Yes whenever the final sound or part of it (vocals, backing track…) was generated by an AI tool, even if the lyrics and melody are yours. An AI assistant for mixing or mastering (for example in iZotope Ozone) that does not generate anything is not considered AI-generated music. How to list AI in the author fields is described in the article How to credit AI as an author correctly.