Does TikTok's Music Library
Protect Brands?

The most common thing we hear from brands is: "The song was in the app, so we're allowed to use it." It is an understandable assumption, and it is usually wrong.

Two kinds of music library

TikTok and Instagram license large catalogues of popular music so that people can use it in personal, non-commercial videos. Business and brand accounts are treated differently. Their use is commercial, so they are meant to stick to commercially cleared libraries: on TikTok, the Commercial Music Library; on Meta's platforms, the Sound Collection. These contain production and licensed tracks, not the chart hits most brands want.

When a brand account, a location page or an influencer posting for the brand uses a chart track from the general library, the platform's licence generally does not cover it. The brand needs its own licence from the rights holders, and most never get one.

What the courts have said

In 2022 a US federal court found Bang Energy liable on summary judgment for music in its TikTok videos, including influencer videos made on its behalf. The ruling confirmed two things underwriters should note: the in-app library is not a commercial licence, and a brand can be responsible for content it did not post itself.

What insurers should ask

• Which accounts post under the brand, including franchise, regional and influencer accounts?
• Does the insured use the platforms' commercial libraries, or popular tracks from the general library?
• Does the insured hold any sync licences for music in its marketing?
• How far back does the account history go, and has it ever been reviewed?

Most insureds cannot answer these questions, because nobody has ever checked. That is the gap Silent Coverage closes: we audit the public accounts directly, exclude tracks from licensed libraries, and return the exposure to the Big 3 music companies (Universal, Sony and Warner) and every other rights holder, so the answer is evidence rather than an assumption.