Sanremo 2027 requires every song to be human-made
Italy's biggest music broadcast just wrote a rule nobody had quite dared to write before: prove a song is actually yours.
Italy's biggest music broadcast just wrote a rule nobody had quite dared to write before: prove a song is actually yours.
Sanremo, RAI's national song contest and one of Europe's most-watched music broadcasts, published its 2027 competition rules this month with a new clause: entries must be "an expression of human creativity." AI tools cannot be used in writing, composing or producing a song where that use replaces, alters or distorts the artist's own creative contribution.
The rule stops short of an outright ban - AI can still assist. What changes is who checks, and when. Broadcaster RAI and festival host Stefano De Martino have reserved the right to use "any available technological means" to verify how a song was actually made, before it airs on the February 2027 broadcast. The clause follows a request from FIMI, Italy's music industry federation.
That is a different enforcement point than music has used so far. Spotify labels AI artists after upload. Chart bodies flag tracks after they climb. Sanremo is building the check into eligibility itself, ahead of a live national broadcast - deciding what counts as human enough before a single note reaches an audience, not after.
