Artificial Intelligence and Music: The Right to an Artificial Intelligence-Generated Music

The rapid increase in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools by creators has exposed significant gaps in existing copyright frameworks across multiple jurisdictions. This article examines the ownership of AI-generated music under the laws of the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Nigeria, with particular focus on the unresolved questions of authorship, voice cloning, and royalty entitlement that current legislation does not expressly address. Using a comparative doctrinal approach, the article analyses how each jurisdiction's treatment of human authorship as a prerequisite for copyright protection applies or fails to apply to music generated wholly or partially by AI systems. The article challenges the prevailing view in Nigerian legal scholarship that AI involvement in the creative process necessarily negates copyright protection, arguing instead that a contextual reading of Section 2(2) of the Nigerian Copyright Act 2022 permits copyright eligibility where substantial human modification can be demonstrated. The article concludes with targeted legislative recommendations for Nigeria, including amendments to the Copyright Act and the creation of a unified statutory framework for the protection of vocal likeness against unauthorised commercial exploitation by AI systems.