SEOUL — Artificial intelligence is no longer waiting outside South Korea’s music industry door.
An AI-assisted song has already entered Melon’s Top 100, one of the country’s most closely watched music charts, exposing a growing gap between rapidly changing music technology and rules governing authorship, copyright and royalties.
The song, “Forest of the Heart,” released in May by YouTube creator Joseon HipHop, climbed as high as No. 89 on Melon’s Top 100 and No. 99 on its daily chart before later dropping out.
The track’s unusual chart run has turned a once-theoretical question into a practical one: Who owns a song when a human writes part of it but artificial intelligence generates other parts?
A song created with AI reaches mainstream listeners
“Forest of the Heart” was not simply produced by typing a single prompt and releasing the result.
According to the Korea Times, Joseon HipHop wrote the lyrics and used Suno’s generative AI technology for the melody and vocals.
The song reportedly gained attention through word of mouth, particularly among listeners in their 40s.
Its appearance on Melon’s charts demonstrated that AI-assisted music can compete for attention in mainstream Korean streaming services even while the industry’s rules for identifying and compensating AI-assisted works remain unsettled.
Korea Herald separately reported that AI-created music is beginning to appear on major Korean charts, underscoring how quickly generative technology is moving from experimentation into commercial music.
KOMCA’s rules changed — then disappeared
The regulatory uncertainty became more visible after the Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA) attempted to establish rules for AI-assisted music.
On Aug. 3, KOMCA introduced guidelines that would have allowed certain AI-assisted works to be registered when humans made meaningful contributions to lyrics, composition, arrangement or other creative elements.
Works produced solely through prompts were excluded.
But the policy lasted only 22 days.
After criticism that there had not been enough public discussion or consensus, South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism sent KOMCA an official letter calling for broader discussion.
KOMCA subsequently withdrew the rules on Aug. 25 and cancelled registrations made during the interim period, according to the Korea Times.
The result is an unresolved question over how much human creativity is necessary before an AI-assisted song can qualify for copyright-related protection or royalty collection.
The royalty problem is already here
The debate is not merely theoretical.
Because Joseon HipHop’s contribution to “Forest of the Heart” involved human-written lyrics while AI handled other creative elements, the song highlights the difficulty of determining exactly who should receive copyright royalties.
The creator currently does not receive copyright royalties for the composition and instead receives compensation through neighboring rights as the track’s producer, according to the Korea Times.
That distinction could become increasingly important as more musicians use AI as a songwriting, production or vocal tool.
Korea is also racing to detect AI music
Another problem is identification.
KOMCA and five other music-industry organizations are reportedly in the final stages of selecting technology for an AI-music detection system.
But detection becomes considerably harder when AI is used for only part of a recording rather than generating the entire track.
That creates another challenge for music platforms, copyright organizations and distributors: identifying how a song was made without unfairly penalizing artists who use AI as one tool within a larger human-led creative process.
Other countries are drawing their own lines
South Korea is not facing this issue alone.
The U.S. Copyright Office has stated that copyright protection requires human authorship and that simply entering prompts into an AI system does not, by itself, provide the necessary human creative contribution.
Meanwhile, collecting societies in several countries have developed approaches that can accommodate AI-assisted works when identifiable human contributions are present.
The European music industry is also moving rapidly on the issue. In July, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) released global principles for determining the eligibility of recordings created with AI for official charts. The framework emphasizes transparency and distinguishes AI-assisted recordings from recordings generated without meaningful human creative involvement.
The copyright battle is moving beyond the songs themselves
The biggest fight may ultimately concern something that listeners never hear: the data used to train AI music systems.
In July, a Munich court ruled at first instance that Suno had infringed copyrights by using works represented by German collecting society GEMA to train its models. The decision was not yet final, according to the Korea Times.
At the same time, AI companies and major music businesses have begun exploring licensing arrangements.
Suno said its latest model was developed using licensed material from Warner Music Group, BMG and Believe, while Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment continue legal action against the company, according to the Korea Times.
The developments show that the AI-music debate now involves much more than whether a machine can generate a convincing song. It encompasses training data, consent, licensing, attribution, royalties and transparency.
Korea faces a decision over the future of music
For South Korea’s music industry, the arrival of AI-assisted songs on major charts means the debate can no longer remain confined to technology companies or copyright specialists.
Artists are already experimenting with AI. Listeners are already streaming the results. Platforms are already ranking them.
The remaining question is how Korea’s copyright and music-distribution systems will define the human contribution required for ownership and compensation.
As AI becomes another tool in the music-making process, the industry will have to establish rules that distinguish between human creativity assisted by AI and music generated primarily by machines.
“Forest of the Heart” may have disappeared from Melon’s charts, but its brief appearance has left behind a much bigger issue — one that could shape how Korean music is created, credited and paid for in the years ahead.
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