On March 21, 2024, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed into law the Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security (ELVIS) Act of 2024, the first legislation of its kind to specifically protect an individual’s property rights to their own voice. The bill defines “voice” as “a sound in a medium that is readily identifiable and attributable to a particular individual, regardless of whether the sound contains the actual voice or a simulation of the voice of the individual.”
Effective July 1, 2024, the new law replaces Tennessee’s long-standing publicity rights statute, the Personal Rights Protection Act of 1984. The former statute protected an individual’s personal property rights regarding use of their name, photograph, and likeness. The new law adds “voice” as a protectable and inheritable asset.
The headline of the new law is that it is meant to be the first in the nation to protect an individual against unauthorized AI generations of their voice.
The use of AI-augmented voice simulation garnered some major industry attention (and anxiety) last year when two songs created and posted by anonymous artist Ghostwriter went viral. While these songs were composed of original music and lyrics, they also used AI-simulated vocals of popular rap artists to make it sound like these individuals were actually performing the songs.
The first track, “Heart on My Sleeve,” was released in April 2023 and contained AI-filtered vocals mimicking rappers Drake and The Weeknd. The song received major attention on platforms such as TikTok, Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube before Universal Music Group, which represents both rap artists, asked the streaming platforms to remove the song due to copyright infringement.
The new Tennessee law creates a civil action against anyone who makes available an “algorithm, software, tool, technology or device” whose primary function is to “produc[e] a particular identifiable person’s photograph, voice, or likeness, with knowledge” that the dissemination of such a production is unauthorized.
In other words, any action under this section will need to be directed against a person or entity who made the technology available, but only if (a) the technology’s primary function is to copy another’s voice or likeness, and (b) the person or entity in question knew that it would be used in a manner that was not authorized. The law appears to provide redress against only the most egregious of cases of AI reproductions.
At the same time, a second new paragraph added to the statute creates a civil action against anyone who “publishes, performs, distributes, transmits, or otherwise makes available to the public an individual’s voice or likeness, with knowledge that use of the voice or likeness was not authorized…”
On its face, this paragraph is not limited to dissemination of AI reproductions. Instead, it will encompass all “copies” of a voice, including those by tribute bands and the Tennessee-famous Elvis impersonators. The Act named after the famed Tennessean may very well end up shrinking his reach.
Tennessee has stepped out in front of cutting-edge technology issues before; the legislature passed a “DAO Bill” in 2022, announcing that “decentralized autonomous organizations” were legal in the state. Still, the language of the statute matters, and it remains to be seen what lawsuits arise and how courts interpret the new law.
If you have any further questions regarding the new Tennessee law or about intellectual property rights and AI in general, please contact Tara Aaron-Stelluto.
