This article is general information about the law and is not legal advice. If you have a specific legal situation involving voice cloning or right-of-publicity claims, consult a qualified entertainment attorney.
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What AI voice cloning is and why it matters for musicians
Voice cloning uses machine learning to analyze recordings of a person's voice and produce a synthetic model capable of generating new speech or singing that closely mimics that person's vocal characteristics. The technology has advanced rapidly; current systems require relatively small amounts of source audio to produce a convincing clone, and the outputs are difficult to distinguish from genuine recordings without technical analysis.
For musicians, the stakes are concrete. A recognizable voice is part of an artist's identity and market value. A convincing AI clone of a well-known artist's voice can be used to generate music, advertisements, or other content without that artist's knowledge or consent, and without payment. The legal question is what recourse exists.
The answer runs through right-of-publicity law, not copyright.
Why copyright does not directly protect a voice
Copyright law protects original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium. A recording of your vocal performance is protected by copyright, as a sound recording and as a performance embodied in that recording. If someone copies your actual recording, that is copyright infringement.
But a voice clone does not copy a recording. It analyzes recordings to model vocal characteristics and then generates new audio. The voice itself, as a biological attribute, a set of acoustic properties, a recognizable timbre, is not a copyrightable work. Copyright's protection stops at the recording; the voice behind the recording is not within its scope.
This gap is why the legal discussion around AI voice cloning centers on the right of publicity rather than copyright. The right of publicity is a state law doctrine that gives individuals the right to control the commercial use of their name, image, likeness, and voice. It is the framework that addresses the commercial exploitation of identity, which is what an unauthorized voice clone represents.
The right of publicity and its state-by-state landscape
The right of publicity exists in some form in most U.S. states, but the scope, duration, and specific protections vary significantly. Some states have strong statutory right-of-publicity laws with explicit voice protections and post-mortem rights extending for decades. Others rely on common law alone, which is less predictable and harder to enforce. There is no single comprehensive federal right-of-publicity statute.
This patchwork is the legal environment that AI voice cloning operates in. Whether a specific use of an AI-generated voice clone violates someone's rights depends on where the rights holder is located, where the violation occurred, and what that state's right-of-publicity law covers.
Tennessee addressed this directly with a specific legislative response.
Tennessee's ELVIS Act
The Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act, the ELVIS Act, was signed into law by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on March 21, 2024, and took effect July 1, 2024. It amended Tennessee's existing Personal Rights Protection Act to add voice as an explicitly protected attribute and to create specific legal consequences for AI-generated voice cloning without consent.
Key provisions, as analyzed in legal commentary including client alerts from Latham and Watkins:
Voice added to protected attributes. Prior to the ELVIS Act, Tennessee's right-of-publicity law protected name, photograph, and likeness. The ELVIS Act added voice explicitly, making nonconsensual commercial use of an AI-generated clone of a person's voice actionable under the statute.
Civil liability for voice clones. The statute creates civil liability for any person who uses, without prior consent, a sound-alike or AI-generated voice clone of an individual for commercial purposes. The scope covers the kind of AI-generated voice replication that would not have been addressed under prior law.
Liability for cloning tools. The ELVIS Act also creates liability for distributing or making available a product or service whose primary purpose is to produce unauthorized replicas of a specifically identified individual's voice or likeness. This extends the statute's reach to developers and distributors of tools designed primarily for unauthorized voice cloning, not only to end users.
Record label enforcement. Under the ELVIS Act, record companies may bring enforcement actions on behalf of artists who are under exclusive recording contracts, a provision that reflects the practical reality that major artists often have the resources of a label behind them, and that the commercial harm from unauthorized voice cloning affects the label's contractual interests as well.
The ELVIS Act is Tennessee state law. Its direct application is to conduct that falls within Tennessee's jurisdiction. Tennessee was the first state to pass a statute specifically designed to address AI voice cloning, but other states have been considering or enacting their own right-of-publicity expansions. The legal landscape continues to evolve.
The federal picture: proposed legislation, not enacted law
At the federal level, the relevant legislative proposal is the NO FAKES Act (Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act). The NO FAKES Act would establish a federal right for all individuals to control the use of their voice and visual likeness in AI-generated digital replicas, create a tiered liability framework for online services, and preempt most state laws governing digital replicas (with carve-outs for state statutes enacted before January 2025 and for state laws covering election-related deepfakes and explicit content).
As of this writing, the NO FAKES Act has been introduced in the U.S. Senate and House but has not been enacted into law. The bill was reintroduced in April 2025 after failing to advance in the prior legislative session, as reported by Tech Policy Press and Wikipedia's bill tracker for the NO FAKES Act. No comprehensive federal statute specifically governing AI voice cloning is currently in effect.
Independent artists following this space should monitor the status of federal legislation and the right-of-publicity expansions in their home states, as the legal framework may change materially in the near term.
Platform-level policies
Beyond law, the major music distribution and streaming platforms are developing their own policies on AI-generated content and voice cloning in distributed music.
Several major platforms have updated their terms of service to require disclosure when AI-generated voices appear in released recordings, and to prohibit releases that use AI to replicate the voice or likeness of a specific identified artist without authorization. The enforcement mechanisms vary, and the policies continue to evolve.
For independent artists distributing music: review your distributor's current AI content policy and disclose AI-generated elements where required. Platform policies are a separate layer from legal liability, and non-compliance with platform terms can result in takedowns or account action independent of any legal proceeding.
Practical guidance for independent artists
The framework above translates into a few practical operating principles:
Using AI on your own voice is a different category. Pitch correction, vocal enhancement, generating harmonies from your own recordings, or using AI tools to process your own voice in your own music is permissible. You control your own voice and can authorize AI tools to process it. The legal and ethical exposure is in using AI to replicate someone else's voice without consent.
Cloning another artist's voice for commercial use carries legal risk. Under state right-of-publicity law, especially in Tennessee under the ELVIS Act, using an AI-generated clone of another person's voice for commercial purposes without their consent is actionable. The fact that federal law has not yet caught up does not mean there is no legal exposure.
Disclosure is a reasonable practice even where not required. If AI-generated vocals or voice processing are a meaningful part of a release, disclosing that in liner notes or platform metadata is consistent with the direction the industry is moving and builds listener trust.
If your voice has been cloned without consent, consult an attorney. The applicable framework (state right-of-publicity law, potentially the ELVIS Act in Tennessee, potentially other state statutes) requires professional legal advice to navigate. The general landscape described here is background context, not a substitute for legal counsel.
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This article is general information about AI voice cloning and the applicable legal frameworks. It is not legal advice. Specific legal situations involving voice cloning, right-of-publicity claims, or contract questions should be addressed with a qualified entertainment attorney.
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More from the Indie Label / Artist Dev desk →Frequently asked
Does copyright law protect my voice from AI cloning?
Not directly. U.S. copyright law protects original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium. A recording of your performance is protected, but your voice itself as a biological attribute is not a copyrightable work. An AI-generated clone of your voice does not copy a specific recording (which would be copyright infringement); it mimics vocal characteristics. The relevant legal framework is the right of publicity, a state law doctrine that governs commercial use of a person's identity, including their voice. Tennessee's ELVIS Act, and similar right-of-publicity statutes in other states, provide the more direct legal basis for challenging unauthorized commercial voice cloning.
What does Tennessee's ELVIS Act actually do?
The ELVIS Act (Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act) amended Tennessee's existing Personal Rights Protection Act to add voice as an explicitly protected attribute and to address AI-generated voice replicas specifically. Signed March 21, 2024 and effective July 1, 2024, as analyzed by legal commentators including attorneys at Latham and Watkins, the statute creates civil liability for the nonconsensual commercial use of an AI-generated voice clone. It also creates liability for distributing a product or service whose primary purpose is the unauthorized replication of a specifically identified individual's voice or likeness. Record labels may enforce ELVIS Act rights on behalf of artists who are under exclusive recording contracts. This is Tennessee state law; it does not apply nationwide in states without comparable right-of-publicity provisions.
What is the NO FAKES Act and has it been enacted?
The NO FAKES Act (Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act) is proposed federal legislation that would establish a federal right for individuals to control the use of their voice and visual likeness in AI-generated digital replicas. As of this writing, the NO FAKES Act has been introduced in the U.S. Senate and House but has not been enacted into law. The bill was reintroduced in April 2025 after failing to advance in the prior legislative session. No comprehensive federal statute specifically governing AI voice cloning is currently in effect.
Is it legal to use AI on my own voice for music production?
Using AI as a production tool on your own voice (pitch correction, vocal enhancement, generating harmonies from your own recordings, or training a model on your own voice to process your own music) is a different category from cloning someone else's voice. You have the right to control and use your own voice and likeness, including granting permission for AI tools to process it. The legal and ethical exposure arises from cloning or commercially using someone else's voice without their consent. Platform-level disclosure expectations are also developing; some services now require or recommend disclosure when AI-generated voices appear in distributed recordings.
What should independent artists know practically about voice cloning?
Three practical points: First, if you are using AI tools in your production process, use them on your own voice and catalog. Second, if another party has used your voice without your consent for commercial purposes, consult an entertainment attorney; the applicable state's right-of-publicity law is the primary framework, and some states (including Tennessee) have specific statutory remedies. Third, watch for evolving platform policies on AI-generated content disclosure; what is optional today on some platforms may become mandatory. This article is general information, not legal advice.