How to Make a Song with AI: The Steps and the Tools to Use

You can now go from an idea to a finished song, with vocals, in a few minutes. Type a description, add lyrics, and an AI music generator retu

rns a full track. The hard part is no longer making the song. It is making a good one, and knowing what you are allowed to do with it afterward.

This guide walks through the process in nine steps and compares the main tools. It also covers the part many tutorials skip: who owns the result, what free plans allow, and what streaming platforms expect. I used each tool’s official pages where they loaded and mark what I could not confirm. I did not test the tools myself for this article, so judge audio quality by listening.

Prices, plans, and rules in AI music are changing quickly because of lawsuits and licensing deals, so check each page before you pay or publish.

The Tools at a Glance

Tool	Best for	Free plan	Commercial use
Suno	Full songs with vocals from a prompt and lyrics	50 credits a day, no downloads	Not on Free, yes on Pro and Premier
ElevenLabs Music	Prompt-based songs with section-by-section editing	$0 with 10k credits a month	Personal use only on Free, rights vary by paid tier
Udio	Songs and in-app customizing	Official pricing page did not load	Verify before you rely on it
Claude or ChatGPT	Drafting and editing lyrics	Free plans exist, limits vary	Check the rights note below

Step 1: Decide What the Song Is For

Before you open any tool, answer four questions:

Purpose: is it for fun, a gift, a video soundtrack, or a release you plan to sell?
Genre and mood: acoustic folk, upbeat pop, slow lo-fi, or something else?
Language and topic: what is it about, and who is singing?
Length: a short jingle or a full three-minute song?

The purpose matters most, because it decides which plan you need. Free plans on the major tools do not give you commercial rights, so a song you want to monetize must come from a paid plan.

Step 2: Write or Draft the Lyrics

You can write lyrics yourself or use an assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT to draft and polish them. A useful prompt:

Write lyrics for a two-verse, one-chorus song about leaving a small town for the first time. Mood: hopeful but a little sad. Use simple, concrete images, a repeating chorus line, and a bridge of four lines. Keep each line under ten syllables. Do not mimic any existing song or artist.

Tips:

Ask for rhythm, not just words. Short, even lines tend to sing better.
Mark sections with labels such as Verse, Chorus, and Bridge, because several tools read them as structure.
Rewrite in your own voice. Personal details make a song feel less generic.

One rights point: Suno’s help page says lyrics you wrote are yours. Rights in lyrics written by an AI assistant are less clear, so if the lyrics matter commercially, write or substantially rework them yourself.

Step 3: Write the Style Prompt

The style prompt tells the generator how the song should sound. ElevenLabs describes setting genre, mood, instruments, and structure. A reliable formula:

Genre + mood + tempo + main instruments + vocal type + structure

Example: “Warm indie folk, slow tempo, fingerpicked acoustic guitar and soft piano, breathy female vocal, verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus.”

Avoid naming a real artist or asking for a specific person’s voice. Spotify’s policy, covered below, treats unauthorized vocal impersonation as a problem, and it is also a legal risk.

Step 4: Choose a Tool and Generate

1. Suno

Suno generates full songs with vocals from a style prompt and lyrics. From its pricing page:

	Free	Pro	Premier
Price	$0	$8 a month	$24 a month
Credits	50 per day	2,500 per month	10,000 per month
Song downloads	None monthly	20 per month	60 per month
Commercial rights	No	Yes	Yes
Models	Free model (v6-mini)	v6 and v6-wild	v6 and v6-wild
Stem separation	None	2 types	3 types
Suno Studio	No	No	Yes

Credits do not roll over from day to day or month to month, and purchased top-up credits need an active subscription to use. The page does not say how many credits one song costs, so test it before you plan a batch.

Best for: quick, complete songs and experimenting with styles.

Watch out for: the download limits and the ownership wording, covered in the rights section.

2. ElevenLabs Music

ElevenLabs describes creating songs from a lyric, mood, loop, or voice recording, with controls for genre, mood, instruments, and structure. It says you can select a section and regenerate only that part, and that it can generate lyrics. The Free tier is listed at $0 with 10k credits a month, but the pricing table says Free is personal use only. The page states that generated tracks are cleared for broad commercial use, then notes that commercial rights vary by subscription tier and points to its terms. It does not state a maximum song length.

Best for: people who want to fix one section without redoing the whole song.

Watch out for: rights that depend on your tier, so read the music terms.

3. Udio

Udio is the other well-known song generator. Its pricing page did not give me plan details, so I cannot report prices or limits. What I can report is the direction of travel: in October 2025, Universal Music Group announced a settlement with Udio and plans for a new licensed platform in 2026. The announcement says Udio’s existing product stays available during a transition, and that creations will be controlled within a walled garden. The reporting I read did not say what that means for downloads. If you plan to rely on Udio, check its current terms and whether you can export your tracks.

Step 5: Generate Several Versions

Do not accept the first result. Generate several versions with small prompt changes: a different tempo, instrument, or vocal description. Listen on speakers and headphones, and keep notes on what you changed. Credits are limited, so change one thing at a time.

Step 6: Edit and Fix

Look for common problems: mispronounced words, a chorus that does not land, or an ending that cuts off. Options include regenerating a section where the tool allows it (ElevenLabs does), rewriting a troublesome lyric line, or exporting stems on plans that offer them. Suno’s Pro and Premier plans list stem separation of two and three types.

Step 7: Download and Keep Your Files

Downloads are the new bottleneck. Suno’s Free plan lists no monthly downloads, Pro 20, and Premier 60, so decide which songs deserve a download. Keep your lyrics, prompts, and settings alongside each file, because that record of your creative choices can matter if rights are ever questioned.

Step 8: Check Rights Before You Publish

This is where most people get surprised.

Free plans are not for commercial release. Suno’s Free plan says no commercial rights. ElevenLabs lists Free as personal use only.

Ownership wording has changed. Suno’s help page says Pro and Premier users own their songs, and that Free songs belong to Suno for non-commercial use. But Music in Africa reported in December 2025 that Suno revised its terms after its partnership with Warner Music Group, so paid users may be granted commercial use rights and are generally not considered the owner. I could not confirm which wording is current, so read Suno’s live terms.

No retroactive license. Per that report, starting a subscription after you made a song does not give you rights to the earlier song, though limited exceptions may exist.

Copyright is not guaranteed. Suno’s help page says songs may not be eligible for copyright protection, because in the US copyright covers human-created material and writing a prompt does not count as creating the song. Lyrics you wrote are yours. Some distributors exclude songs that are not copyright-eligible. This is general information, not legal advice, so consult a professional if money is at stake.

Step 9: Release or Share

Distribution rules are in flux, so check before you upload:

Spotify says it does not ban AI music and treats all music equally regardless of tools. It does prohibit vocal impersonation unless the impersonated artist authorized it, is filtering music spam such as mass uploads and artificially short tracks, and supports an industry standard (DDEX) for disclosing AI use in credits.
Distributors may have their own limits. According to Music Business Worldwide, Believe and TuneCore blocked distribution of Suno’s then-current models in April 2026, then announced a deal on September 8, 2026 under which only output from Suno’s new industry-partner model becomes eligible. I could not verify how this applies to your account today.
Video platforms have their own disclosure rules. For video work, see our guide to free AI tools for YouTube creators.

If you only want a song for a private project or a video you will share on your own, the rules are simpler. If you want to sell or stream it, read your distributor’s current AI policy first.

Make Cover Art and Video Too

A song is easier to share with a visual. Our guides to free AI image generators and to turning a script into an AI video cover the next steps, and each lists its own limits and license caveats.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Releasing a Free-plan song commercially. Suno and ElevenLabs list Free as non-commercial or personal use.

Assuming you own the song. Terms have changed, and copyright is not guaranteed.

Naming real artists in prompts. It invites quality problems and impersonation issues.

Using all your credits on one idea. Credits do not roll over on Suno, so plan your sessions.

Skipping the lyrics edit. Generic lyrics are the most common weakness.

Ignoring distributor rules. Policies on AI-made music are changing.

Not saving your files and prompts. Keep a record of how you made each track.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the easiest way to make a song with AI? Write short lyrics, add a style prompt, and generate in a tool such as Suno or ElevenLabs Music. Then listen to several versions and pick the best.

Is there a free way to do it? Yes. Suno’s Free plan gives 50 credits a day, and ElevenLabs lists a free tier with 10k credits a month. Both are limited, and neither gives commercial rights on the free plan.

Can I sell AI-generated songs? Only with a plan that grants commercial use, and distribution may have extra rules. Read the current terms.

Do I own the copyright? Not necessarily. Suno’s help page says songs may not be copyright-eligible, since US copyright covers human-created material.

Can I put AI songs on Spotify? Spotify says it does not ban AI music, but it has rules on impersonation and spam and supports AI disclosure credits. You usually upload through a distributor, which may have its own policy.

Can AI write the lyrics? Yes, with Claude or ChatGPT, but rights in AI-written lyrics are unclear. Rewrite them yourself if they matter.

The Bottom Line

Making a song with AI is a creative loop: write or draft lyrics, describe the sound clearly, generate several versions, and refine. The tool you choose matters less than the plan you pick, because the plan decides what you can legally do with the result. Start on a free plan to learn the process, upgrade only if you plan to release, and read the terms and your distributor’s rules before you do. The technology is easy. The rules are the hard part.