South Korea's KOMCA reopens registration for AI-assisted music

The Korea Music Copyright Association has introduced a registration path for music made with AI assistance. The new standard took effect on 3 August after KOMCA had stopped accepting AI-related registrations in 2024.

A work can qualify when a human made a substantial, leading contribution to writing, composition or arrangement. Output produced by prompts alone is not eligible. Applicants must disclose the tools they used, identify the AI-generated portions and describe their own contribution.

KOMCA can request project files or other evidence of the creative process. False declarations can lead to withheld or reclaimed royalties and termination of the trust agreement. Reporting about a possible penalty of up to three times the relevant amount describes a proposed contractual measure; it should not be treated as an already universal statutory fine.

Process evidence is becoming part of authorship

The useful lesson outside South Korea is not a single percentage of human input. KOMCA is asking for a traceable account of who did what. Session files, drafts, stems and edit history can help distinguish human authorship from prompt-only generation more clearly than the finished recording alone.

The rule governs KOMCA registration and royalty administration. It does not by itself settle every question of copyright ownership under Korean law, nor does it automatically apply to collecting societies elsewhere.