Can a Record Label License an AI Clone of Your Voice? What the NewJeans Contract Report Shows

Short answer: only if the contract gives it that right, and even then a court may not enforce a broad grant. That is the lesson of a story from South Korea. On November 5, 2026, The New York Times published the contracts that the five members of the K-pop group NewJeans signed with their label, ADOR, a subsidiary of HYBE. Complex, IBTimes UK and SBS News report on what the Times found, and we read all three.

This article is about the contract language. It does not take a side in the group's long dispute with its label. It is general information, not legal advice.

What was reported

• The signing. The five members were 14 to 17 when they signed exclusive contracts with ADOR in April 2022, IBTimes UK reports.
• The voice clause. According to the Times, as Complex relays it, the contracts let ADOR use and license AI-generated versions of the members' voices indefinitely after the deals expire in 2029, including AI voice clones and chatbots. The members would be paid but would have no say over how their voices and likenesses are used. IBTimes UK adds that the contracts reportedly give ADOR continuing rights to their names, photographs, likenesses, handwriting and voices after the agreements end.
• The standard it departs from. Complex says South Korea's standard K-pop contract template ends a label's rights to an artist's name, image and voice when the contract ends. These contracts reportedly do not.
• The doubts. Legal experts told the Times it is unclear whether the AI voice provisions would hold up in court, Complex reports. Lawyer Jong-eon Roh called the agreements "unusually aggressive."

What ADOR and HYBE say

ADOR says AI-generated content can only be used with an individual artist's consent and that it has no intention of using artists' intellectual property without authorization, IBTimes UK reports. HYBE says its contracts are legal, were negotiated in good faith and match industry standards, Complex reports. None of the three reports we read says ADOR has made, or plans to make, an AI version of the members. IBTimes UK says the practical scope of the protections "remains contested."

The wider dispute is in court. Complex reports that a Seoul court ruled on October 30, 2025 that the contracts remain valid through 2029, and that the members said they would appeal.

Where the law stands for artists

There is no single answer, because the rules differ by country and, in the U.S., by state. In July 2024 the U.S. Copyright Office wrote that "not all states' laws protect an individual's voice" and recommended a federal digital replica law. Tennessee is one state that now names voice: its ELVIS Act took effect on July 1, 2024. Our earlier article on the stalled NO FAKES Act covers the federal bill.

The Copyright Office also described what a fair voice license might look like. These are recommendations to Congress, not law, and they concern the U.S., not Korea. But they make a useful yardstick for any contract:

• License, do not sell. People should be able to license their digital replica rights "but not to assign them outright."
• Keep it short. The Office suggested limiting licenses, other than collectively bargained ones, to "a relatively short term, such as five or ten years," after which the parties can renegotiate.
• Spell it out. People signing should have "adequate knowledge and full disclosure of the intended uses." The Office pointed to the SAG-AFTRA agreement, which requires digital replica terms to be "clear and conspicuous" and in a separate contract or rider.
• Protect minors. The Office called safeguards such as licenses that expire at 18, court review and holding income in a trust "advisable."
• Stop new uses when the license ends. If a singer consents to a label using a digital replica of her voice for a set period, the Office said, the label would be barred from making new recordings with it afterward, though it could keep distributing recordings made during the license.

A checklist for any contract that mentions your voice

Read these parts before you sign, and ask a music attorney if anything is unclear.

• Find the words. Search for voice, likeness, name, image, digital replica, synthetic, simulation, AI, machine learning, clone, chatbot, avatar and "in perpetuity."
• Who decides? Check whether each new use needs your written approval or whether one signature covers everything.
• What can be made? A recording of you is not the same as a new performance, a voice model or a chatbot. Look for the exact list.
• How long does it last? Does the right end when the contract ends, or does it continue after the term?
• How are you paid? Look for a fee or share each time a replica is used, not just a one-time payment.
• Can you take it back? Ask what happens to any model or data built from your voice if you leave.
• Who else signs? If the artist is under 18, ask about the safeguards above.
• Get it in writing. If a label says AI use needs your consent, ask for that sentence in the contract.

Consent is how the big label AI deals describe it. UMG's chief executive told investors on October 29 that artists "opt in whenever their voice, image, name and likeness" are used, as we reported in our look at Spotify's AI remix tool. A contract is where that promise becomes real, or does not.

What the reports leave open

• Whether the AI clauses would hold up. Legal experts told the Times it is unclear.
• Whether any NewJeans voice clone exists or is planned. None of the reports we read says so.
• How the supplementary agreements work in practice. IBTimes UK says the scope of the protections remains contested.

Sources

• Complex: report on the NewJeans contracts and indefinite voice rights (November 5, 2026)
• IBTimes UK: report on the NewJeans contracts, teen welfare and AI voice rights (November 6, 2026)
• SBS News (English): report on the NewJeans contracts (November 6, 2026)
• U.S. Copyright Office: Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, Part 1: Digital Replicas (July 31, 2024)
• U.S. Copyright Office: Copyright and Artificial Intelligence
• Tennessee General Assembly: HB 2091 / SB 2096, the ELVIS Act (Public Chapter 588)