ElevenLabs launched a marketplace for AI music — but nobody owns it

ElevenLabs just opened a music marketplace where anyone can sell songs made entirely by AI. Creators generate tracks with ElevenLabs' music model, list them for sale, and earn money when someone buys a license. The platform has already produced nearly 14 million songs and paid out over $11 million to creators through its existing voice marketplace.

But here's the uncomfortable truth: nobody actually owns AI-generated music. Under current law, content created by AI — not a human — can't be copyrighted. That means the songs on this marketplace have no legal protection. Buyers are paying for something that anyone could technically copy, and sellers have no way to stop it.

How the marketplace works

The process is straightforward: you describe the song you want in plain English — "upbeat indie rock with guitar solos" or "calm lo-fi beats for studying" — and ElevenLabs' AI generates a complete track. Songs can be anywhere from 3 seconds to 5 minutes long, in any genre, with or without vocals, in multiple languages including English, Spanish, German, and Japanese.

Once you've generated a song, you can publish it to the marketplace. Other users browse, preview, and purchase licenses based on how they plan to use the music:

The copyright problem nobody wants to talk about

Here's where things get legally murky. In the US, EU, and most other countries, copyright requires a human author. If a human didn't write the melody, compose the lyrics, or arrange the instruments — if AI did all of it — then the resulting work has no copyright protection at all.

This creates a strange situation:

• You can sell an AI-generated song on the marketplace
• But you can't legally own it
• Someone else could generate an identical-sounding track with a similar prompt
• There's no exclusivity guarantee — the marketplace itself warns about this
• If someone uses your track without paying, you may have no legal basis to stop them

ElevenLabs' own terms make this clear: the platform provides "zero guarantees of legal protection" and "all risk falls on the user."

ElevenLabs is trying to do this differently than competitors

To their credit, ElevenLabs has taken more legal precautions than most. While competitors like Suno and Udio face massive copyright lawsuits from major record labels, ElevenLabs struck preemptive licensing deals with Merlin (an independent music licensor) and Kobalt (a major music publisher).

These deals include a 50/50 royalty split — meaning artists whose music was used to train the AI model get paid every time the system generates new music. CEO Mati Staniszewski has said he wants to eventually partner with major labels like Universal, Warner, and Sony.

The platform also has strict rules to prevent the most obvious problems:

• No real artist names in prompts (you can't ask for "a song that sounds like Drake")
• No copyrighted lyrics allowed
• No selling tracks as sample packs for other producers
• TV and film use requires prior approval, even for paid subscribers

Who should care about this

Content creators and YouTubers: If you need background music for videos and hate paying $15/month for stock music subscriptions, this is a cheaper alternative. Just know that the music you buy might not be legally protectable if someone copies it.

Marketers and small businesses: Need a jingle for your ad campaign? You can generate custom music in minutes instead of hiring a composer. The Social Media and Paid Marketing licenses cover most business use cases.

Musicians and composers: This is a double-edged sword. The Eleven Album — a collaboration between Grammy-winning artists and the AI platform — shows there's room for human-AI creative partnerships. But if AI music floods the market at rock-bottom prices, it could push down what clients are willing to pay for human-made music.

Anyone who makes a living from creative work: This marketplace is a preview of what's coming for illustration, writing, video, and every other creative field. The technology works. The legal framework doesn't — yet.

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