South Korea’s largest music copyright collective, the Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA), has reversed its ban on registering AI-assisted musical works effective August 4, 2026.
The revised standards replace KOMCA’s earlier “zero percent” policy, which had required creators to confirm that a work was made solely through human creative contributions with no AI involvement.
Under the updated framework, KOMCA will register AI-assisted works only when a human creator made a substantial and leading creative contribution accounting for more than half of the creative process.
KOMCA draws a firm line against prompt-only generation, requiring applicants to confirm that a work did not result solely from prompts entered into an AI system.
Applicants must now identify which parts of a work involved AI, the specific tools used, how each tool was used, and the human creative contribution for lyrics, composition, and arrangement separately.
Registration also requires individual consent to each AI-related representation and warranty, affirming that the work retains a human-created foundation based on substantial and leading creative choices.
KOMCA expects creators to keep verifiable supporting materials, including digital audio workstation project files, revision histories, sheet music, and prompt logs, which may be requested at any time.
Where registrations raise questions, KOMCA may conduct technical checks or use an internal deliberation process to verify AI use and assess whether human contribution meets the required threshold.
False filings carry meaningful financial and contractual risk, including royalty holds, recovery of improperly received payments, contractual penalties, and potential termination of the trust agreement.
For agent-filed applications, KOMCA now requires written authority signed by the principal that expressly covers AI-related reporting, confirmation, representations, warranties, and pledges throughout the process.
For joint works, a co-author may file and confirm their own contribution while reporting other co-authors’ contributions based on information received, with a seven-day objection window provided after notice.
KOMCA’s approach shares surface similarities with United States Copyright Office guidelines, where AI-assisted works may be registered but non-human elements must be disclosed and disclaimed from the scope of protection.
A key difference is that the United States currently has no bright-line rule on how much human involvement is required, while South Korea has now set that threshold explicitly at more than 51% of the creative process.
Importantly, KOMCA’s policy shift does not alter South Korea’s existing copyright laws, and lawmaker Kim Jae-won publicly criticised the change, highlighting that KOMCA does not possess the authority to unilaterally amend existing copyright law.
While KOMCA has moved forward with registration of certain AI-assisted works, South Korea’s National Assembly has not yet amended its copyright legislation to confirm the legal protections that registration would typically confer.
Practitioners and rights holders should monitor ongoing discussions between KOMCA, the National Assembly, and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism regarding any forthcoming changes to South Korean copyright law.
For music creators and companies, this development makes documentation and disclosure a vital operational requirement, meaning records should be built as a song is created rather than assembled retrospectively.