AI voice and likeness in Music City: what the ELVIS Act changes

What the law is about

Tennessee's Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act, known as the ELVIS Act, was signed in March 2024. It updated the state's existing protection for a person's name, photograph, and likeness by adding their voice, and the state said plainly that it was responding to AI tools that can clone how someone sounds.

It was written with the music industry in mind, but its reach is not limited to musicians. Any business in Tennessee that produces audio or uses a real person's likeness in its marketing is working in the territory it covers.

Where small businesses run into it

The common cases are ordinary: a radio or social ad voiced by a tool that sounds like a well-known performer, a sound-alike jingle, a video that puts a local celebrity's face on a promotion, or an AI voice agent answering the phone in a voice modelled on a real person.

None of these require bad intent to be a problem. The safe pattern is the same in every case: use your own voice or a clearly synthetic one, and get documented permission before using anyone's real voice or likeness.

A permission step that fits in a workflow

If you automate content production, add a gate before anything with a voice or a face goes out: whose voice or likeness is this, and where is the written permission? If nobody can answer, it does not ship.

Keep the permission with the content, not in someone's inbox. When the question comes up later, the answer should take seconds to find.

What this page is not

This is a plain-language orientation, not legal advice. The law's details, including what counts as a use and what exceptions apply, are for a Tennessee lawyer, especially if your business is in entertainment or advertising.