One of the most striking developments in the music industry in
2023 was the release of the song “Heart on my Sleeves” by
an anonymous user named “Ghostwriter” using the
AI-created voices of world-famous singers Drake and the Weekend.
However, the song “Heart on my Sleeves” did not exist in
the music market for a long time due to the removal of the song
from the relevant platforms after Universal Music filed a notice of
intellectual property infringement. Although the song was removed
from the relevant platforms upon Universal Music’s request, the
complexity of the issue has led to much debate as to the copyright
implications and basis of the request.
If a similar situation were to occur in Turkey, the provisions
of the Law No. 5846 on Intellectual and Artistic Works
(“LIAW”) would need to be carefully examined. In a
hypothetical case where a musical work that has been publicized but
has not yet been performed is performed by the use of a voice that
does not belong to any real person and is created entirely by
artificial intelligence, the right of representation of the owner
of the musical work regulated under Art. 24 of LIAW would likely be
infringed the first place among other economic and moral rights of
the author. In fact, according to the last paragraph of Art. 24,
the right of representation may not be exercised by natural and
legal persons without the written authorization of the author or,
in case the author is a member of a collecting society, of the
collecting society within the framework of the powers specified in
the authorization certificate. It should be particularly noted here
that Turkish law does not have the compulsory license system that
exists in some jurisdictions, such as the United States, which
allows a musical work that has been released to the market to be
performed as a cover by paying the license fee determined by law
without the need to obtain the consent of the author. Therefore,
the performance of a musical work that benefits from copyright
protection is only possible with the consent of the owner of the
musical work or the authorized collecting society.
Covering the musical work by artificial intelligence
without such consent would constitute the violation of the
author’s rights.
Slightly different from the hypothetical situation above; in the
event that the voice of the performing artist who has previously
performed the musical work is changed by artificial intelligence
but still performed in a way that resembles the voice of the
performing artist who performed that song, both the right of
representation of the owner of the musical work regulated in Art.
24 of FSEK in the first place as stated above and the neighboring
rights of the performing artist regulated in Art. 80 of FSEK will
be violated. Indeed, Art. 80 stipulates that performing artists
have the right, independently of their economic rights and even
after the transfer of these rights, to demand that they be
recognized as the owner of their performances in relation to their
identified performances and that their performances be prevented
from being distorted in a way that may damage their reputation.
Therefore, in this case, in addition to the right of representation
of the owner of the musical work under Art. 24 LIAW in the first
place, there may also be a violation of the neighboring rights of
the performing artist under Art. 80 LIAW.
On the other hand, in a hypothetical situation where a musical
work that did not exist before is created by artificial
intelligence by using the voices of real people should be evaluated
from personality rights perspective. If the voice of a person,
which is protected under Articles 23, 24 and 26 of the Turkish
Civil Code, is used without authorization, a violation of
personality rights may arise. In order for a violation of
personality rights to arise, it is not obligatory for the person
whose voice is used to be a public figure or a professional singer.
However, in the event that the voice of a performing artist who is
famous for his/her voice and is recognized as a professional singer
is used without his/her permission, in addition to the personality
rights protected under Article 23 et seq. of the Turkish Civil
Code, the rights which are referred as “the commercial
dimension of personality / asset dimension of personality” in
Turkish law that correspond to the terms “right of
publicity” in the United States, “passing off” in
the United Kingdom, may also be violated. This situation may also
create unfair competition which is addressed in Article 84 of
LIAW.
As can be seen, the use of artificial intelligence at various
levels can lead to copyright infringement in various respects.
Countries may need regulation in the face of new developments such
as these. For example, in Tennessee, a state known as the music
capital of the United States, recently enacted the Ensuring
Likeness Voice and Image Security Act, also known as the
“ELVIS Act”, prohibiting artificial intelligence from
mimicking singers’ voices and is expected to take effect in
July 2024. Although this issue is not currently debated in Turkish
law, it may be considered to include provisions regulating such
effects of artificial intelligence in the digital copyright law,
which is on the agenda of the legislator.
First published by in Mar 04, 2025.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.
