But the LLM is a tool. If I use a set of colored pencils to draw you a bird, the pencil company doesn't own the copyright. I do. Because I used the tool.

What if I sell you intelligent pencils that connect to your brain and guides your fingers?

Colored pencils don’t move themselves around the paper, and they’re not full of uncompensated training based on untold numbers of other artists’ work. They require full agency and imposition of your will. That’s why you get credit.

A photocopier is also a tool, but you won’t get credit for Xeroxing the Mona Lisa.

It's not black or white (you're using colored pencils, after all). A part of what is copyrightable is based on merit and effort as well as your tools.

You probably have a copyright to some landscape if you make it with colored pencils. If you simply take a picture you have more of an uphill battle claiming copyright.

So.. does the conductor of an orchestra get royalty rights? He's just prompting the "actual" musicians.

She’s directing the orchestra. It’s semantically different than prompting.

It’s not like the conductor just says “okay, play Canon in D” and calls it quits. She actively participates in the performance and creation of the end work. And different conductors can absolutely yield different versions of the exact same arrangement. They’re as much a performer as any of the instrumentalists.

So yes, they get royalties like the other performers.

How is that any different than a prompt engineer other than the degree to which "...actively participates in the performance and creation"?

The degree is the important factor. Many seem to be ignoring the "merit and effort" portions of copyright.

A conductor has control over the tempo and cadence of the entire piece. They can choose to pause the entire performance on the spot and then resume right where they left off. They may adjust sections to play louder or quieter based on weather and acoustics.

And that's all during performance. There's work needing in at the bare minimum arranging pieces based on the band.

The real answer is "it depends". Live music copyright is way hornier an issue than AI. And yes, has been fought in courts for centuries.

But roughly speaking: writing music is an art, which is different from ochaestrating an ensemble in real time taking into account conditions for the audio. The author of the piece isn't always the orchestrator, and arrangements are another matter entirely .