BRIDGER & AI
OUR APPROACH
AI is changing how music is written, composed and produced. It can help creators explore ideas, experiment with sounds and support their creative process, but also raises questions about who created a song, who owns the rights and who should receive the royalties.
At Bridger, our priority is to recognise human creativity and help songwriters receive the royalties they are entitled to. We recognise that creators may use AI, but we need to distinguish their own songwriting contribution from material generated by AI.
Transparency is central to this approach.
Understanding how a work was created helps us identify its writers, maintain accurate registrations and avoid incorrect royalty claims. Using AI does not automatically prevent registration, but AI-generated material should not be declared as someone’s own human songwriting.
HOW WE DISTINGUISH DIFFERENT USES OF AI
Bridger’s approach distinguishes three categories of AI assistance. The goal of these categories is to cover the different uses of AI making a song, such as using it to support your writing or improve a recording, or asking it to generate the lyrics and music.
AI as an assistant means you created the music and lyrics, while AI supported your creative process. You might use it to explore ideas or suggest changes that you then develop through your own writing and composing. The information you provide should explain your contribution and how the tool helped.
AI as a component means AI generated either the lyrics or the musical composition, while you created the other part. For example, you wrote the lyrics and used AI to generate the music. In this situation, we need to identify the human contribution separately so we can assess the rights eligible for registration and collection.
Fully generated by AI means AI generated both the lyrics and the musical composition. Entering prompts or releasing the result under your artist name does not, by itself, establish human songwriting authorship. Declaring a work in this category does not automatically make it eligible for copyright royalty collection.
These categories describe the creative process. They do not, by themselves, establish copyright ownership or guarantee acceptance by Bridger.
WHAT BRIDGER IS DEVELOPING FOR END OF 2026
Bridger plans to introduce a dedicated AI declaration within work registration by the end of 2026.
This will give creators a clearer way to explain AI’s role when submitting their music.
You will first be asked whether you used AI as an author, composer or songwriter. If you answer No, your work will follow the normal registration process as a fully human creation, subject to our usual checks. If you answer Yes, you will choose the category that best reflects how AI contributed and provide any necessary clarification.
Our aim is to make declarations clearer for creators and give our team the information needed to review works consistently.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU TODAY
If you use AI, explain which parts of the song you wrote or composed yourself and which parts the tool helped create or edit. Be specific about whether it contributed to the lyrics, melody, vocals or instrumental, or whether you used it only for technical tasks such as mixing or mastering.
If we notice possible AI use and need more information, we will mark your work as Missing Information and email you. Simply reply with the requested details. We cannot accept your registration until we have clarified AI’s role and completed our review.
You should also check the terms of any AI service you use. Permission to commercially release its output does not automatically establish songwriting copyright, and using AI does not remove the need to obtain permission for someone else’s protected material.
If you are unsure how to describe your AI use, contact support@bridgermusic.io. We’ll be happy to clarify what information we need.