ElevenLabs launches music marketplace for AI-generated tracks with no copyright protection

ElevenLabs Launches Music Marketplace—But With No Copyright Guarantees

ElevenLabs has opened a music marketplace where users can publish and sell tracks created with its ElevenCreative AI music model. Creators upload generated tracks, and receive payments when others download, remix, or license them.

The company claims nearly 14 million songs have already been generated using its music model. ElevenLabs states it has previously paid out more than $11 million to creators through its Voice Marketplace, applying the same revenue-sharing model to the new music platform.

Tracks are offered in three license tiers:

• Social Media: For content creators
• Paid Marketing: For marketing teams
• Offline: For game developers and event organizers

ElevenLabs highlighted producer Patrick Jordan-Patrikios, who has worked with artists including Sia and Nicki Minaj, as an early user on the platform.

Legal Protection: None

The critical issue: AI-generated music currently has zero legal copyright protection. Unlike the company's voice clone marketplace—where users own rights to their own voice—AI-generated compositions lack traditional authorship and therefore don't qualify for copyright protection under current law.

According to ElevenLabs' Music Terms, the company provides no guarantees of exclusivity. Multiple users could generate identical or nearly identical tracks, with no recourse for earlier creators. The terms explicitly state users have no rights to third-party outputs produced by the same model.

All legal risk falls entirely on the user. The platform prohibits using real artist names, existing song titles, or lyrics from copyrighted songs as prompts, but enforcement and long-term liability remain unclear.

Legal experts suggest this situation won't change soon. Unlike generative text or image tools where human authorship elements exist, AI music generation produces output with no human creative input in the traditional legal sense. Creators using this marketplace should verify their local copyright laws and obtain legal counsel before listing tracks.

What This Means

ElevenLabs is monetizing AI music generation at scale, but it's shifting all legal responsibility to creators. The marketplace creates a revenue opportunity for content creators and musicians seeking quick, inexpensive background music—but buyers and sellers should treat these as unlicensed, unprotected assets. Until copyright law catches up with AI music generation, this marketplace operates in legal gray territory where users assume all risk.