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Tennessee’s identity is closely tied to music and performance. From Nashville to Memphis, the state has long been home to artists whose voices and images are central to their work and livelihoods. That history has shaped how Tennessee approaches legal protections for performers and creators.
Publicity laws, however, were created at a time when voice and image were harder to replicate, and they did not clearly address how identity could be copied or widely reused.
Against that backdrop, Tennessee updated its legal framework to reflect how voice, image, and likeness are used today. The result was a law designed to address modern forms of identity use without rewriting the entire system of publicity rights.
What Is Tennessee’s ELVIS Act?
The Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security Act, commonly known as the ELVIS Act, is a Tennessee law that governs how a person’s name, image, likeness, and voice may be used in commercial and public contexts. The law went into effect on July 21, 2024.
The ELVIS Act updates Tennessee’s existing Personal Rights Protection Act to account for digitally generated and replicated content. It makes certain uses of a person’s voice or likeness unlawful when they are copied or imitated without consent, including versions created using artificial intelligence.
These protections apply to performers, public figures, and private individuals, with enforcement rights extending to estates in specific posthumous situations. The law establishes clearer standards around consent and liability, particularly where modern technology is used to reproduce personal attributes.
What the ELVIS Act Protects
The ELVIS Act protects specific personal attributes from unauthorized commercial use. These protections apply when an individual’s identity is copied, recreated, or imitated without consent, including through digitally generated methods.
The law covers the following attributes:
- Voice: A person’s voice is explicitly protected, including both original recordings and digitally generated imitations that sound like the individual.
- Name: The use of a person’s name in commercial or promotional contexts is protected when used to imply endorsement or association without permission.
- Image and Photograph: Visual representations of a person, including photographs and realistic depictions, are covered under the law.
- Likeness: Likeness includes recognizable traits or features that identify a person, even when recreated or altered.
These protections apply to both living individuals and, in certain cases, to estates managing rights after death. The law also clarifies that consent must come from the individual or an authorized representative, depending on the circumstances.
By defining which personal attributes are protected, the ELVIS Act establishes clear boundaries for lawful use in commercial, advertising, and entertainment settings.
Why the ELVIS Act Was Needed
Prior to the ELVIS Act, Tennessee’s publicity rights were governed by statutes that did not explicitly address digitally generated voice or likeness. While these laws protected name and image in traditional commercial settings, they offered limited guidance on how imitations created through newer methods should be treated.
This lack of specificity created uncertainty around consent, enforcement, and liability. Artists, estates, and businesses were often left without clear standards for determining when voice or likeness use crossed legal boundaries.
The ELVIS Act responded to these gaps by clarifying how existing publicity rights apply when identity is copied or recreated. By defining protected attributes more precisely and outlining who can authorize their use, the law strengthens enforcement without replacing Tennessee’s broader publicity framework.
Key Provisions of the ELVIS Act
To address gaps in existing publicity laws, the ELVIS Act sets out specific provisions that define what is protected, when consent is required, and how violations are handled.
1. Voice Is Explicitly Protected
The ELVIS Act updates Tennessee’s Personal Rights Protection Act by formally adding voice as a protected personal attribute. This protection applies to both original recordings and digitally generated imitations that sound like the individual. By doing so, the law removes uncertainty around whether voice replicas fall under existing publicity rights.
2. Unauthorized Commercial Use Is Prohibited
The law prohibits the commercial use of a person’s name, image, likeness, photograph, or voice without consent. This includes use in advertising, promotional materials, entertainment content, or other revenue-generating contexts. Consent must come from the individual or an authorized representative.
3. Stronger Enforcement and Remedies
Individuals and estates may bring legal action for unauthorized use of protected attributes. Available remedies include compensation for economic harm and, in cases involving intentional misuse, additional damages designed to deter repeat violations.
4. Limited Defenses for Third Parties
The ELVIS Act narrows defenses that could previously shield parties involved in unauthorized use. Distributors and platforms cannot avoid responsibility solely by claiming they did not create the content. This provision increases accountability across the chain of use, not just at the point of creation.
5. Posthumous Rights Are Preserved
Protection under the ELVIS Act extends beyond a person’s lifetime. Authorized heirs or estates may manage and enforce rights related to name, image, likeness, and voice. These rights remain in effect as long as they are actively used and maintained under the law’s specified time limits.
6. Protections Apply Broadly
While the law is often discussed in the context of artists and public figures, its protections are not limited to celebrities. Any individual may invoke the ELVIS Act when their protected attributes are used without consent in a commercial setting.
Implications of the ELVIS Act on AI Platforms and Agencies
Taken together, the ELVIS Act’s provisions do more than define individual rights. They also reshape how responsibility is distributed across the systems that create and circulate content.
The ELVIS Act affects platforms and agencies that create, distribute, or monetize content using a person’s voice or likeness. When protected attributes are used without consent in a commercial setting, liability may extend beyond the original creator to parties involved in hosting, distributing, or promoting that content.
Under the law, platforms are expected to confirm that valid authorization exists before voice or likeness is used. This is particularly relevant in commercial contexts where identity is reused across advertising, media, and promotional campaigns, including those involving public figures.
For companies that operate at scale, this may require adjustments to internal review and approval workflows. While the ELVIS Act does not prescribe specific technical systems, it reinforces the expectation that authorization is addressed before personal attributes are used in commercial content, including posthumous uses managed by estates.
ELVIS Law vs. Other State Laws
While the ELVIS Act clarifies how voice and likeness are protected in Tennessee, similar standards are not applied consistently across states. Existing laws often focus on traditional uses of identity and do not fully address digitally generated imitations.
- Right of Publicity Laws: Most states recognize a right of publicity that gives individuals control over the commercial use of their name or likeness. These laws vary widely and were largely written before digitally generated voice or likeness replication became common, leaving gaps in how synthetic content is treated.
- State Deepfake Laws: Several states have passed laws targeting deepfakes in narrow contexts, such as election interference, defamation, or fraud. These statutes offer limited protections and generally do not establish broad rules for commercial use of voice or likeness.
- California Civil Code Section 3344: California’s right of publicity law protects living individuals from the unauthorized commercial use of their name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness. The statute does not specifically address digitally generated replicas.
- New York Civil Rights Law Sections 50 and 51: New York law restricts the use of a person’s name, portrait, picture, or voice for advertising or trade purposes without consent. Like many state statutes, it does not comprehensively cover imitations created using newer technologies.
Because of these differences, state laws like the ELVIS Act are often discussed alongside federal proposals such as the NO FAKES Act, which aim to establish more consistent standards for voice and likeness protection across jurisdictions.
Conclusion
The ELVIS Act is part of a larger shift that is still taking shape. As new ways of using voice and likeness continue to appear, laws like this begin to set expectations for how those uses should be handled, especially when money or promotion is involved.
What happens next will depend on how often the law is tested and how courts apply it in real cases. It may also influence how other states think about updating their own publicity laws. Over time, these decisions will help shape what consent and control look like for voice and likeness moving forward.
Rather than closing the conversation, the ELVIS Act opens the door to the next phase of how identity is treated under the law.
FAQs
No. While the law is often discussed in connection with performers and public figures, it applies to any individual whose protected attributes are used without consent in a commercial setting. Private individuals may also bring claims under the Act.
Yes. One of the key updates in the ELVIS Act is the explicit protection of voice, including digitally generated imitations. If an AI system creates a voice or likeness that clearly resembles a real person and it is used commercially without consent, the law may apply.
Yes. The ELVIS Act preserves posthumous rights in certain circumstances. Authorized heirs or estates may manage and enforce rights related to name, image, likeness, and voice, as long as those rights are properly maintained under Tennessee law.
Traditional publicity laws focused mainly on name and image. The ELVIS Act modernizes that framework by clearly protecting voice and addressing digitally generated imitations. It also narrows certain defenses and strengthens enforcement options.
