South Africa's AI music rulebook is one disclosure box, and it doesn't decide who gets paid

South Africa has exactly one AI rule for music that a songwriter will actually run into, and it is a question on a registration form. TechCentral reported on 19 Oct 2026 that SAMRO, the Southern African Music Rights Organisation, now requires members to disclose how much AI was used when they register a song. It sets no minimum level of human contribution. SAMRO told TechCentral that disclosure does not, in itself, decide whether a work is eligible for copyright or entitled to royalties. It is weighing a fuller policy, with no confirmed timeline.

Everything around that box is either still being drafted or was withdrawn.

What does SAMRO's rule actually do?

It collects information, and that's all. A producer who generates a track and a songwriter who used AI only to tidy a mix both tick the box, and nothing in the rule treats them differently when royalties are paid. SAMRO also told TechCentral that admitting someone as a member does not confirm the copyright status of any work or approve how it was made.

The rule follows SAMRO's own April 2026 member survey of 502 members. A few numbers stand out:

• 89.2% said SAMRO should push for AI protection legislation.
• 65% rated AI's threat to their livelihood as high or extreme.
• 34.3% had used Suno, and 10.8% said they had used AI in works without telling SAMRO.
• Asked what accountability should look like, 69.8% picked credit for original artists and 68.5% licence fees for copyrighted works.

In the survey's final priorities, members asked for minimum human contribution thresholds and for royalties to be protected from dilution. The disclosure rule gives them neither yet. SAMRO's wish list isn't new either: in June 2025 it told ITWeb that future rules should cover how creators are paid when their work trains AI models.

Is AI music already reaching South African listeners?

Yes. TechCentral cites Scrolla's report that Rea Gopane's AI-made amapiano track "Suka!" reached number 10 on Apple Music South Africa by late January. Cassper Nyovest told the Saturday Star that he had shared the song thinking it came from a new artist. He said AI isn't a threat to established acts like him, but is a problem for up-and-coming ones.

TechCentral also profiles Justin Erasmus, an Alberton producer who works mainly with Suno. He says he released 11 albums, five EPs and 20 singles in 13 months, and that SAMRO and Sampra (the South African Music Performance Rights Association) accepted him as a member after he explained his process. He has registered one song so far. He also wants disclosure to say which parts of a track used AI: vocals, instrumentation, lyrics or production.

The public broadcaster is improvising as well. The SABC's head of communications told Sowetan in June that its stations avoid airing fully AI-generated works until clear legal frameworks exist, and told TechCentral that this is an editorial approach, "not a finalised organisational policy".

Where is the Copyright Amendment Bill?

It is back with Parliament, and it says nothing about AI. On 26 June 2026 the Constitutional Court ruled on the Bill and its companion Performers' Protection Amendment Bill after the President referred them. It upheld the new fair use exception in section 12A and struck down the educational copying exceptions in section 12D(1) to (5). It also found that the President's referral of sections 6A, 7A and 8A was incompetent, so it never ruled on them. According to Afriwise, those are the sections that give authors and performers a share of royalties even after they have assigned their copyright.

Acts Online reports that Parliament's trade, industry and competition committee will limit its review to section 12D(1) to (5) and any linked provisions. Law firm Adams & Adams, which acted for the seventh amicus curiae in the case, notes that neither the Bill nor the judgment deals with generative AI. In its view, the ruling also rules out reading fair use as a safe harbour for mass commercial AI training.

What about a national AI policy?

There isn't one. Cabinet approved a draft National AI Policy for public comment on 25 March 2026, and it was published on 10 April. On 26 April, Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Solly Malatsi withdrew it after the department found fictitious sources in its reference list, most likely AI-generated citations included without checks.

CAPASSO, another South African rights society, hosted the CIAM General Assembly in Johannesburg in October 2025 and partnered on the AI conference that followed it, where panels called for fair pay, credit and transparency. We found no published CAPASSO rule on AI works, so we can't say whether it asks members for disclosure.

What we think

The headline "no rules" is slightly wrong, and the way it's wrong matters. South Africa does have a rule, but it is a private one, written by a collecting society, and it deliberately settles nothing. That leaves SAMRO's distribution as the real policy. If AI-heavy works can be registered with no human-contribution threshold and paid from the same pool, the most prolific uploaders take a larger share, and the cost falls on human writers whose income doesn't grow with their output. The members who asked for protection from royalty dilution saw this coming.

The disclosure data is still worth having. Once SAMRO knows how much of its repertoire involves AI, it can set a threshold based on evidence, not guesswork. That only works if the answers are honest and detailed. Erasmus's ask, that disclosure name the specific elements, is the right one. A single yes/no box will be gamed. The 10.8% of members who admit they used AI without telling SAMRO suggest it already is.

The legislative route is slow. Parliament's narrow review of section 12D means the Bill will not become the vehicle for AI rules. The royalty-sharing sections that matter most to working artists are still in limbo. The one government document meant to set AI direction was pulled for the very fault it was supposed to regulate. Spain's charts body has already written its own AI eligibility rules, and platforms are labelling AI music in different ways. We expect South Africa's rules to come the same way: from SAMRO, broadcasters and streaming services, not from statute.

For South African songwriters, the practical steps are simple. Disclose specifically when you register. Keep drafts, stems and session files as a record of your human contribution. Answer SAMRO's consultation when it comes, because whatever threshold SAMRO sets will decide your share of the pool long before Parliament does.