A commercial comes on TV. A cheerful song is playing in the background. The vocals are flawless, the melody is catchy, the arrangement is clean ... You wonder who the artist singing it is, but there is no such artist.
Because the song was made by artificial intelligence.
In Türkiye, advertising agencies and brands can now create music using AI. They enter a prompt of just a few words, then select the genre, tempo, mood and vocal style. Within minutes, a song tailored to the brand is ready.
There is no need to rent a studio. No waiting for a composer. No need to bring in an arranger. No costs for musicians, vocalists or sound engineers. What’s more, dozens of different versions of the same piece can be created within minutes.
For advertisers, it is fast, cheap and practical...
But there is another side to the story that few people are talking about.
Today, an advertising company pays an AI platform and says, “I have commercial-use rights.” But in most cases, it does not know which songs were used to train that AI, whose voices it learned from or how closely the melody it generated resembles another work.
More precisely, it does not feel the need to know.
The payment has been made, commercial-use permission has been obtained from the platform and the music has been downloaded. From the agency’s perspective, the matter appears to be closed.
But is it really?
Let’s say an AI system learned by listening to millions of songs. If those songs include works by Turkish composers, lyricists, arrangers and musicians, who gave permission? Were the rights holders paid anything? Were artists’ songs used to train a system that could eventually produce music in their place?
The advertising agency does not know the answers. The advertiser does not know. Sometimes, even the AI platform does not clearly disclose them.
Yet everyone uses the resulting music without a second thought.
This creates a strange copyright system: The AI platform used by the brand makes money. The advertising agency gets its production fee. The advertiser gets music at a lower cost. But the composer, lyricist or musician whose work helped the AI learn how to make music receives not a penny.
Everyone profits – except the people whose music helped train the AI.
Then there is the question of what happens when an AI-generated track resembles an existing song. AI can sometimes produce a familiar melody, a recognizable arrangement or vocals reminiscent of a particular artist. An agency employee may not notice. The advertiser may assume that saying, “The platform gave us commercial-use rights,” removes any liability.
But paying a platform does not mean you have permission to use someone else’s copyrighted work.
Likewise, the fact that something was generated by AI does not automatically make it copyright-free. If the resulting work clearly resembles an existing piece, how valid is the defense, “I didn’t make it; the machine did”?
After all, AI did not create the advertisement on its own. There are people who chose it, used it and published it.
Even more concerning is the imitation of artists’ voices.
A real artist’s name may never appear in an advertisement’s credits. Yet the vocal style, pronunciation and tone may clearly remind listeners of that artist. Without reaching an agreement with the artist, the brand is effectively benefiting from the familiarity and emotional impact associated with their voice.
The artist is not in the ad, but their voice is.
And they have not been paid for it.
In Türkiye, there is currently no single, official permission known as an “AI music license.” The main document companies rely on is the commercial-use agreement of the platform they use. But permission granted by a platform may only give users the right to use its service; it does not eliminate all legal risks related to the works used for training, similar melodies, or imitated voices.
That is why the advertising industry needs clear rules.
If AI-generated music is used in an advertisement, this should be stated in the production credits. It should be disclosed which system generated the music, how much human input was involved and whether the voice of a real artist was imitated. Agencies should not stop at saying, “We purchased a commercial package”; they should also seek assurances about the training data used by the systems they rely on.
Professional associations should not stand on the sidelines, either. Because the issue is not only how much composers will earn in the future. It is also about systems trained on their work today taking away their jobs in the advertising market.
In the past, an advertising jingle might involve a composer, arranger, musician, vocalist and sound engineer. Now, a single prompt box is being placed where all those names once stood.
It is easy to oppose technology, but stopping it is not possible. The speed of technology, however, should not come at the expense of people’s right to be paid for their work.
Advertisers are paying AI platforms. But who is paying the artists whose work made that technology possible?
One of the emerging names of the new generation, Marsi has released “Inadına,” the third song of her musical journey, to listeners. The young artist, who has begun building her own musical world with a series of releases in quick succession, is opening the door to a new chapter in her career with her latest song.
From the very beginning of her musical journey, Marsi has aimed to establish an identity of her own and she continues that journey with her third song.
Released on Aug. 28, “Inadına” is more than just a song; it also stands out as a strong expression of the young artist’s stance in the music world.
As its title suggests, the song centers on not giving up, following your own path and continuing forward despite all the questions and uncertainties.
Although she is still at the beginning of her career, Marsi has maintained a steady pace of production with a series of consecutive releases and “Inadına” makes her musical identity even more distinct.
Rather than following what is popular, the young artist aims to create her own story and sound. In that sense, her latest song holds a special place in her journey.
Three songs, three different steps and an increasingly defined Marsi world...
As she prepares to meet listeners with more music and new projects in the next phase of her career, Marsi sums up the message of “Inadına” with the song’s title itself.
