TikTok’s New Rule for Brands Using Music

TikTok has some new rules for brands using music in their TikTok videos!  TikTok is pulling back on the library of music that is accessible to brands on its platform. This is a sign they are taking music rights seriously.

As stated from TikTok:

"We recently rolled out the Commercial Music Library. This new library enables verified businesses or organizations on TikTok to access a pool of royalty-free music for promotional content, and provides the tools and resources to help them further embrace the creativity and authenticity of the TikTok community."

TikTok explains that the Commercial Music Library will provide "high-quality, free-to-use music" that will "also save you time and investment in sorting out music licensing".

So what does that mean for businesses using TikTok?

Businesses won't be allowed to include popular tracks in their clips from now on.  “Verified businesses and organizations” will no longer be able to use any of the popular songs that are frequently used for dance challenges and viral trends on TikTok.  This is unfortunate but understood. Music is a key to potentially having a video go viral and has been used by brands to get more view/likes.  This also means that brands won’t be able to participate in sponsored hashtags and trends started by other businesses.

If brands want to use this music, they'll have to obtain the appropriate license granting them commercial use, if not they run the risk of videos from being taken down. For now, businesses will need to use royalty-free music when creating TikTok videos or license the songs themselves.

 What is a brand uses an influencer to promote its product or service but is not a verified business on TikTok?

We like to think of the influencer partnership as an advertisement, in which case the brand will need to have rights to the music that the creator uses or use the royalty free music library provided by TiKTok.  A brand cannot legally post a TikTok video to just any music that exists because music licensing does not include commercial use. The same applies to if a brand pays an influencer to do a TikTok video set to music on behalf of their company!

If a brand wants to use other music besides the royalty free, they can create their own library of music for creators to use by acquiring licensing rights from the artist or label.

 The way I’ve interpreted this in a legal sense is that in any legal dispute around art or music, they are coming after the advertiser. The advertiser is the brand, the influencer is merely a channel.

If you would like to learn more about ways to work with TikTok or influencers on TikTok, drop us a line.